Leiden University Student Repository

Lemmers, Simone (2011)

Burned Culture. An osteological research into Urnfield cremation technology and ritual in the South of the Netherlands based upon the Urnfield material of Maastricht-Ambyerveld

Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)

The material category of cremation remains is of high importance for archaeologists. For many time periods, cremation was the prime way of disposing the dead and therefore has significant value for understanding burial rituals of past societies. Next to that, in many areas including large parts of the Netherlands, cremations are more often retrieved than inhumation burials due to their resistibility to acidic soil circumstances. Although highly important, knowledge on how this material can be of assistance in archaeological research is often underestimated or misunderstood. This study therefore gives an up to date overview of possibilities and limitations of the material. The second part of the thesis is concerned with the ability of cremation research to shed new light on the burial ritual of the Urnfield culture in the South of the Netherlands. Although Urnfields are a well studied phenomenon, relatively little is still known about how the deceased were cremated and how the ritual...Show moreThe material category of cremation remains is of high importance for archaeologists. For many time periods, cremation was the prime way of disposing the dead and therefore has significant value for understanding burial rituals of past societies. Next to that, in many areas including large parts of the Netherlands, cremations are more often retrieved than inhumation burials due to their resistibility to acidic soil circumstances. Although highly important, knowledge on how this material can be of assistance in archaeological research is often underestimated or misunderstood. This study therefore gives an up to date overview of possibilities and limitations of the material. The second part of the thesis is concerned with the ability of cremation research to shed new light on the burial ritual of the Urnfield culture in the South of the Netherlands. Although Urnfields are a well studied phenomenon, relatively little is still known about how the deceased were cremated and how the ritual took place. This thesis therefore seeks to give further insight in the possibility to gain more insight into the performed ritual, based on the information which can be extracted by osteological analysis. The study focuses on material from the Urnfield of Maastricht Ambyerveld, used as a case study. Attention is put on the possibilities to integrate histological and tooth cementum annulation research in standard cremation analysis as well.Show less

Author

Lemmers, Simone

Faculty

Faculty of Archaeology

Supervisors

Fokkens, H.

ECTS Credits

35

Evaluation

Recommended

Language

en