This thesis examines archaeological eggshell finds from cremation graves in the Swedish province of Uppland as well as inhumation graves from the island of Gotland. All graves are dated to the Viking Age, however, the chronology varies by the region, with the period´s ending placed around year 1050 AD in Uppland and around year 1150 AD at the island of Gotland. An attempt is made to create a list of all known cases of egg depositions in graves during the period of interest, and to subsequently analyse them all in order to get a better understanding of this practice. The comparative analysis of the artefact assemblages within the graves and grave constructions is undertaken in order to identify possible regularities in how and when the egg was used within the ritual sequence. Although notable regional variations and differences in Viking Age burial customs are known to exist between the two investigated regions, and artefacts deposited within the graves are adapted to regional conditions, it is possible, amongst other things, to observe similarities in the timing of egg deposition. By understanding the funeral as a rite of passage that signified the transition between the states of life and death, and with the final goal of achieving the distinction between the world of the living and the realm of deceased ancestors, it is possible to better comprehend the funeral rituals and their archaeological remains – in this case avian eggshells. By applying van Gennep's rites of passage tripartite structure, involving separation, liminality, and incorporation, it is concluded that eggs, as we see them in the archaeological material presented in this study, are used in the last stage of this model. This is the part of the process where the main goal is reintegration of those who participated in ritual into a new social order. It is thus proposed here that eggs might be seen as hierophanies:  profane, everyday objects that have manifested into something sacred and who are clearly understood as such to those involved in burial but not necessary to outsiders: as symbols for fertility, regeneration, rebirth and transformation.

Where are the Late Pleistocene Human Remains? Problems and Perspectives in the Search for the First AmericansVery few, if any, reliable human skeletal remains have been recovered for the late Pleistocene period (before 10.000 B. P.) in South America. They all have problems of context, association, and/or radiocarbon dating. The same is true for the early human record in North America. This dilemma is discussed in terms of 1) archaeological visibility and sampling, 2) other biases affecting the record, 3) mortuary patterns of early hunter-gatherers groups that elude archaeological discovery, and 4) possible solutions to resolve the problem. / En Sudamérica se conocen pocos restos óseos humanos confiables que supuestamente pertenecieron al Pleistoceno Tardío (antes de 10.000 A.P.). Todos ellos tienen problemas de contexto, asociación y/o fechado radiocarbónico. Lo mismo ocurre con el registro humano temprano de Norteamérica. Este problema se discute en términos de 1) visibilidad arqueológica y muestreo, 2) tendencias de estudio variables que afectan el registro, 3) patrones funerarios de los grupos de cazadores-recolectores tempranos que eluden el estudio arqueológico, y 4) soluciones posibles para resolver el problema.

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There is an ongoing debate concerning the nature of warfare and violence in the Iron Age of Britain. Interpretations regarding material remains from this period fluctuate between classifying instruments of violence (i.e. swords, spears, hillforts) as functional tools of war and as ritual symbolic devices. Human skeletal remains provide the most unequivocal evidence for violent encounters, but were often missing from these debates in the past. This thesis addresses this lack of treatment by analyzing the patterns of traumatic injuries at sites from two distinct regions in Iron Age Britain (East Yorkshire and Hampshire). The human remains from these sites show clear markers of interpersonal violence. When the remains are placed in context with the mortuary treatment, it is evident that violence and ritual were inextricably linked. In East Yorkshire, combat may have been ritualized through duelling and competition performance. In Hampshire, individuals with perimortem injures are often found in special deposits such as pits, ditches and domestic areas, suggesting their use in ritual processes that distinguish them from the general population. This provides a basis for understanding warfare and violence during the Iron Age of Britain and how communities negotiated the social tensions caused by violent interactions. / Note: Content of Appendix 2 is not available.

This study provides chemical confirmation for the use of resinous plant exudates in mortuary contexts in Roman Britain. Analysis of amorphous masses, adhering residues and grave deposits using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry has revealed terpenoid biomarkers in sixteen inhumation and two cremation burials. The natural products characterized include European Pinaceae (conifer) resins, Pistacia spp. (mastic/terebinth) resins from the Mediterranean or the Levant and Boswellia spp. (frankincense) gum-resins from southern Arabia or eastern Africa. In addition, traces of a balsamic resin, probably Liquidambar orientalis, have been identified. A correlation between the use of these exotic exudates and interment in substantial, often multiple, containers with high-quality textiles and grave goods was observed. Theoretical consideration of this imported rite illuminates the multiplicity of roles played by resins/gum-resins in the mortuary sphere. The material properties of these highly scented substances speak to the biological reality of the decomposing body and to the socially constructed identity of the individual. On a practical level, they acted as temporary preservatives and masked the odour of decay. As social signifiers, they denoted the status of the deceased and promoted remembrance through conspicuous consumption and sensory impact. Encoded with ritual meaning, they purified the body and facilitated the final rite of passage to the afterlife. The recovery of these resinous traces provides us with new insights into the treatment of the body in the Roman period and establishes fresh links between the remote province of Britannia and the remainder of the Empire. / Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). / Vol. II, which contains supplementary material files, is not available online.

Using the Mohr Site as a case study, this project examines the role of pottery in Shenks Ferry mortuary features. Following an analysis of the mortuary pottery, the resulting information is compared with pottery from the general site assemblage as well as with descriptions of pottery from other Shenks Ferry sites. In addition, an inventory of the Mohr Site grave good assemblage has been created. The assemblage at the Mohr site is especially rich and is particularly noteworthy given the nature and number of the burials discovered; no other current collection has as much variety or quantity as is seen at this site. The pottery recovered from Mohr exhibits characteristics typical of pottery found at other Shenks Ferry Sites and in other Shenks Ferry burials. The ceramic evidence challenges the traditional assumption that the Mohr site is a transitional Lancaster-Funk Phase site. Likewise, the length of time this site was occupied is also debatable. Mortuary vessels at Mohr are predominately associated with extended burials oriented to the east. There are also correlations between mortuary vessels types and age and sex. Possible connections between other grave goods and age, sex, and body position and between body position and season of interment are also discussed. Additional research employing methods such as residue analysis to compare information regarding the contents of the mortuary and non-mortuary Mohr Site pottery as well as further evidence produced by additional excavations or more in-depth analysis of current grave material collections will provide further insight into Shenks Ferry mortuary ritual and is necessary in order to fully understand this site and its place in the chronology of the Shenks Ferry Complex. / Anthropology

In South Sweden the third millennium BC is characterised by coastal settlements of marine hunter-gatherers known as the Pitted Ware culture, and inland settlements of the Battle Axe culture. This thesis outlines the history of research of the Middle Neolithic B in general and that of the pottery and burial practices in particular. Material culture must be understood as the result of both conscious preferences and embodied practices: technology can be deliberately cultural just as style can be un-selfconscious routine. Anthropological and ethnoarchaeological research into craft and the transmission of learning in traditional societies shows how archaeologists must take into consideration the interdependence of mind and body when interpreting style, technology and change in prehistory. The pottery crafts of the Pitted Ware and Battle Axe cultures were not just fundamentally different technologically, but even more so in the attitudes toward authority, tradition, variation and the social role of the potter in the community. The Battle Axe beakers represent a wholly new chaîne opératoire, probably introduced by a small group of relocated Beaker potters at the beginning of the period. The different attitudes toward living bodies is highlighted further in the attitudes toward the dead bodies. In the mortuary ritual the Battle Axe culture was intent upon the creation and control of a perfect body which acted as a representative of the idealised notion of what it was to belong to the community. This focus upon completeness, continuation and control is echoed in the making of beakers using the ground up remains of old vessels as temper. In contrast, the Pitted Ware culture people broke the bodies of the dead by defleshing, removal of body parts, cremation, sorting, dispersal and/or reburial of the bones on the settlements. The individuality of the living body was destroyed leaving the durable but depersonalised bones to be returned to the joint collective of the ancestors. Just as the bodies were fragmented so were the pots, sherds and bases being deposited in large quantities on the settlements and occasionally in graves. Some of the pots were also tempered with burnt and crushed bones. At the end of the Middle Neolithic the material and human remains show evidence of a growing effort to find a common ground in the two societies through sharing certain mortuary rituals and making beakers with a mix of both traditions, stylistically and technologically.

This thesis deals mainly with the Middle Neolithic period (ca. 3200-2300 BC) on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how the islanders related to their surroundings, to the landscape, to places, to objects, to animals and to humans, both living and dead. The archaeological material is studied downwards and up with a focus on practices, especially the handling and deposition of materials and objects in graves, within sites and in the landscape. The study is comparative and the Middle Neolithic is described in relation to the Early Neolithic and the Mesolithic period on the island. From a long term perspective the island is presented as a region where strong continuity can be identified, regarding both way of life and economy. In contrast, substantial changes did occur through time regarding the islander’s conceptions of the world and of social relations. This in turn affected the way they looked upon the landscape, different sites and animals, as well as other human beings. During the Mesolithic, the islanders first saw it as possible to create their world, their micro-cosmos, wherever they were, and they saw themselves as living in symbiosis with seals. With time, though, they started to relate, to connect and to identify themselves with the island, its landscape and its material, with axe sites and a growing group identity as results. The growing group identity culminated during the Early Neolithic with a dualistic conception of the world and with ritualised depositions in border zones. The Middle Neolithic is presented as a period when earlier boundaries were dissolved. This concerned, for example, boundaries towards the world around the islanders and they were no longer keeping themselves to their own sphere. At the same time individuals became socially important. It became accepted and also vital to give expression to personal identity, which was done through objects, materials and animals. Despite this, group identity continued to be an important part in their lives. This is most evident through the specific Pitted Ware sites, where the dead were also treated and buried. These places were sites for ritual and social practices, situated in visible, central and easy accessible locations, like gates in and out of the islands’ different areas. The dead were very important for the islanders. In the beginning of MN B they started to adopt aspects from the Battle Axe culture, but they never embraced Battle Axe grave customs. Instead they held on to the Pitted Ware way of dealing with the dead and buried, and to the Pitted Ware sites, through the whole period, with large burial grounds as a result.

This study focuses on the burial practices in the Bronze Age Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries, north-west China, in order to understand how people constructed their social identities and delivered the social cognitions through generations. The Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries, as the main sites of the Xiaohe cultural horizon, have central roles for the understanding of the formation of the Bronze Age cultural groups and the cultural interactions between the west and the east in the Tarim Basin. However, current research is lacking in-depth examinations of the material culture of the cemeteries, and the contexts of the surrounding archaeological cultures in a timespan from Bronze Age to Iron Age. Through detailed comparisons of the construction of coffins and monuments, the dress of the dead, and the burial goods assemblages, this study provides an overview of the social structural development, from the Gumugou group’s heterogenous condition to the Xiaohe group’s homogeneous and mature state. Also, through relating to the results of biological and osteological analyses, and applying geographical analyses to the material, this study suggests that the early settlers in the Tarim Basin, the Xiaohe-Gumugou people have created their own social identities. Although the Xiaohe-Gumugou people might have migrated from southern Siberia or Central Asia, the archaeological material shows indications of their own typical features. When newcomers joined the society, the local burial customs were accepted and applied in a new cultural setting. / Denna studie fokuserar på gravskick på gravfälten Xiaohe och Gumugou i nordvästra Kina, för att förstå hur människor konstruerade social identitet och överförde kulturella föreställningar mellan generationer. Xiaohe-Gumugou-gravfälten, som de viktigaste platserna i Xiaohe-kulturhorisonten, är centrala för förståelsen av bildandet av bronsålderns kulturgrupper och de kulturella växelverkningarna mellan väst och öst i Tarimbäckenet. Tidigare forskning saknar fördjupade undersökningar av gravfältens materiella kultur samt den historiska kontexten med de omgivande arkeologiska kulturerna under tidsperioden från bronsålder till järnålder. Genom detaljerade jämförelser av konstruktionen av kistor och monument samt de dödas klädsel och gravgåvor, ger denna studie en översikt över utvecklingen av sociala strukturer, från Gumugou-gruppens heterogena situation till Xiaohe-gruppens homogena och mogna tillstånd. Genom att relatera till resultaten från biologiska och osteologiska analyser och tillämpa geografiska analyser på materialet, tyder den här studien på att de tidiga bosättarna i Tarimbäckenet, Xiaohe-Gumugou-folket, har utvecklat egna sociala identiteter. Trots att Xiaohe-Gumugou-folket kan ha migrerat från södra Sibirien eller Centralasien visar det arkeologiska materialet indikationer på egna typiska egenskaper. När nykomlingar anslöt till samhället accepterades de lokala begravningssederna och tillämpades i ett nytt kulturellt sammanhang.

A presente pesquisa de doutorado pretende levantar, catalogar e examinar os vestígios arqueológicos dos contextos funerários, datados entre o intervalo do século XI ao VIII a.C. nos principais sítios da região da Argólida (Mapas 1, 2 e 3), Argos, Tirinto, Asine, Micenas, Náuplia e Lerna. Comparando tais dados entre si, e discutindo-os a partir de fundamentos teórico-metodológicos da Arqueologia das Práticas Mortuárias, objetivamos, por fim, levantar considerações sobre os costumes funerários dessa área, revelando possíveis padrões de enterramento e de comportamento sócio-cultural inseridos nas mudanças políticas ocorridas em um período de longa duração, principalmente, durante o período denominado de Alto Arcaísmo, o século VIII a.C., com o processo de formação da pólis argiva. / This thesis intends to gather, catalogue and analyze the archaeological data from the funerary contexts, dated from the XI to the VIII centuries BC in the main sites of the Argive plain (Maps 1, 2 and 3). Finally, it is also our aim to compare the data collected and discuss them through the theoretical and methodological basis of the Archaeology of Mortuary Practices trying to reach some questions and considerations about the funerary customs and burial patterns of this region and also possible social and cultural behavior characteristic of the shifts occurred mainly during the VIII century BC.