The Deposition of Human Remains in Settlements in Bronze Age Moravia (Czech Republic)
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://www.logos-verlag.de/cgi-bin/engpapermid?doi=10.30819/mbgaeu.b45.8&lng=deu&id= |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.30819/mbgaeu.b45.8 |
| Keywords | graves in settlement pits; vessel graves; settlement area; spatial separation of burial grounds; Bronze Age |
| Description | The deposition of human bodies in settlements is a phenomenon that has been continuously observed from prehistory to the Middle Ages. When dealing with human remains in settlements, it is necessary to distinguish between burials in grave pits – i.e., specialised burial features – and burials in formally distinct settlement features (so-called pit burials). However, from a terminological point of view, such pit burials are often not burials, but rather specific deposits in a settlement feature including human bodies. In Moravia, we have a good record of Bronze Age settlements and cemeteries, which allows us to track the occurrence of human remains in settlements over time and to evaluate the spatial relationship of burials in settlements to those in cemeteries. Burials in settlements, whether in settlement features or in grave pits are quite common in Moravia in the Early Bronze Age. The burials in settlement features were for many years considered such a typical element of the burial ritual at the end of the Early Bronze Age that they were in fact used as a dating criterion. From the Middle Bronze Age to the end of the Bronze Age, the occurrence of human bodies in settlement pits becomes an entirely exceptional phenomenon. The situation in Moravia is thus clearly different from the environment of the Knovíz Culture in Bohemia, where the deposition of human bodies in settlement features is quite common in the Late Bronze Age. A specific source are the sites dating to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, where there are hundreds of human skeletons in contexts related to fortifications. Interpretations in these cases range from evidence of military conflict to long-used sacred sites. |
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