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...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
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
