Grafheuvels hergebruikt

This BA thesis focusses on one aspect of the burial tradition of the late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in the South of the Netherlands and adjacent Belgium (1100-500 B.C.). During this period of time, the vast majority of the population of North-western Europe was buried in large collective cemeteries; urnfields. Therefore, this period was also known as the Urnfield Period. The deceased were cremated and buried in small burial pits, with or without urns, to which small burial mounds and ring ditches were added. Nevertheless, in different locations, there are examples of burials in which the deceased were buried in much older burial mounds (secondary burials) or changes have been made to these burial mounds (modifications). This concerns an aberrant burial practice with re-use of burial monuments from a distant past. Although this phenomenon has been named in several publications, it lacked further analysis hitherto. This research, which is based on literature review,...Show moreThis BA thesis focusses on one aspect of the burial tradition of the late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in the South of the Netherlands and adjacent Belgium (1100-500 B.C.). During this period of time, the vast majority of the population of North-western Europe was buried in large collective cemeteries; urnfields. Therefore, this period was also known as the Urnfield Period. The deceased were cremated and buried in small burial pits, with or without urns, to which small burial mounds and ring ditches were added. Nevertheless, in different locations, there are examples of burials in which the deceased were buried in much older burial mounds (secondary burials) or changes have been made to these burial mounds (modifications). This concerns an aberrant burial practice with re-use of burial monuments from a distant past. Although this phenomenon has been named in several publications, it lacked further analysis hitherto. This research, which is based on literature review, accommodates such analysis with a further categorization, with the underlying purpose to recover patterns. To achieve the recovery of patterns several things have been researched, among which are the type of burial mounds re-used, the manner in which they were heightened, expanded and cut through, the locations within the burial mounds where the deceased were buried, the type of grave goods that were present, the type of individuals that were buried and the correlation between them. In addition, the potential motivations for this phenomenon have been discussed, to which degree this corresponds with common burials in urnfields and whether this could have been a collective tradition. This has revealed a high degree of diversity in re-use, yet there appears to be indication of specific choices, and in particular two specific patterns have been revealed. Firstly, several individuals were potentially purposefully buried eccentrically within older burial mounds, whereas others were buried in the centre, disturbing the original graves. Therefore, in some cases, one could have been aware that people from a near or distant past were buried in these burial mounds. Secondly, the practice of secondary burials almost exclusively concerned female individuals; at least in the cases with sex estimations. Because this research was focused on aberrant burial practices, the amount number of available samples was, in fact, too small for definitive conclusions. Further research could be directed at the expansion of the research area (e.g. to Germany) and, if possible, to research the (osteological) “raw data” of sites with cases of re-use.Show less

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Grafheuvels hergebruikt