Changing the dead: Transformations in medieval burial rituals in mainland Spain (c. 400 – 1000 CE)

This thesis analyses the role of the socio-political landscape for the constantly changing burial rituals of mainland Spain during the early medieval period. Mainland Spain contains a highly complex socio-political landscape, with different kingdoms, cultures, and religions entering and spreading across the urban and rural areas alike. The related burial practices of these socio-political units are all identified and well-known, but this information lacks accessibility and an overview. Therefore, a simple, yet extensive overview in the form of an open database was created for this research, with the goal of visualizing different transformations in burial rituals and practices. 14 unique archaeological sites were selected, resulting in 15 database entries. Besides general burial information and rituals, four common burial practices were used to display any change or continuation within the dataset, being grave goods, location within the wider landscape, body position, and grave...Show moreThis thesis analyses the role of the socio-political landscape for the constantly changing burial rituals of mainland Spain during the early medieval period. Mainland Spain contains a highly complex socio-political landscape, with different kingdoms, cultures, and religions entering and spreading across the urban and rural areas alike. The related burial practices of these socio-political units are all identified and well-known, but this information lacks accessibility and an overview. Therefore, a simple, yet extensive overview in the form of an open database was created for this research, with the goal of visualizing different transformations in burial rituals and practices. 14 unique archaeological sites were selected, resulting in 15 database entries. Besides general burial information and rituals, four common burial practices were used to display any change or continuation within the dataset, being grave goods, location within the wider landscape, body position, and grave furniture. I found that the dataset mostly coincides with the standard burial rituals of the related cultures and religions. Changes in the socio-political landscape, such as the introduction of monotheistic religions (i.e. Christianity, Islam), heavily coincide with large transformations in burial rituals. Almost every funerary aspect changes according to the standardized burial rituals forced upon by the elites in power, in the form of top-down processes. However, a multitude of exceptions, such as unique burial practices, were present in the dataset. These irregularities were most likely caused by either an admixture of populations, causing burials to combine into different separate burial practices, or rural populations resisting both top-down processes and the admixture of populations, by practicing local beliefs and traditions in mostly isolated burial areas. The effect of the environment on burial rituals is also an important factor, as certain unique burial practices were the sole result of the buriers adapting to specific environments. Thus, this thesis has shown the influence of the socio-political landscape on burial practices, resulting in change, continuation, and irregularities to occur, while also providing a database that can be expanded in the future by adding more sites and funerary aspects, which will increase in accessibility of this information to researchers and the public alike.Show less

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Changing the dead: Transformations in medieval burial rituals in mainland Spain (c. 400 – 1000 CE)