During the Late Bronze Age (1100-800 BC) and Early Iron Age (800-500 BC) urnfields are constructed throughout North-Western Europe. In the Middle and Late Iron Age and the Roman period urnfields...Show moreDuring the Late Bronze Age (1100-800 BC) and Early Iron Age (800-500 BC) urnfields are constructed throughout North-Western Europe. In the Middle and Late Iron Age and the Roman period urnfields are occasionally reused. Urnfields are used as a location for settlements and cemeteries. This research aimed to make an inventory of the different forms of reuse in Noord-Brabant and Northern Limburg. Fourteen case-studies were selected in order to investigate the different forms of reuse. The data from these sites was supplemented with data from other publications. The research showed that the forms of reuse were more divers than previously thought. During the Middle- and Late Iron Age urnfields are often used as settlement locations. Sometimes urnfields are overbuilt by these settlements. But often houses are constructed near urnfields while granaries are constructed directly on the urnfields. This suggested that we might be dealing with a positive appreciation, possibly connected to a cult in which the ancestors were used to enhance fertility. It is also possible that the ancestors, who were buried in these urnfields, were used to claim land. During the Middle- and Late Iron Age urnfields were also reused as burial sites. This might be a limited continuation of the earlier burial rites where deceased were buried close to their ancestors, a phenomena already observed in the Late Neolithic period. During the Roman period urnfields were still used both as settlement location and as burial sites. The reuse of urnfields as location for burials diminishes through time. Urnfields are not as important for the placement of Roman cemeteries as was previously thought (only 5,4% of the Roman cemeteries are located near urnfields). During the 4th-century AD reuse of urnfields as a location for cemeteries ceases. This could be the start of the myth forming around urnfields, which is observed in the Medieval period. However it should be noted that some urnfields in Flanders were reused as cemeteries during the Merovingian period thus perhaps the reuse still continued during this period. The presented results are comparable with the results from other studies conducted in Flanders, Drenthe and Westphalia.Show less
