Tracing the treatment of the body before, during and after cremation, this thesis aims to reconstruct and theorise the mortuary rituals associated with urned cremation burial in Bronze Age Scotland. It is an attempt to bridge the gap between theoretical perspectives from funerary archaeology and up-to-date methods for understanding heat-related changes to bone from osteoarchaeology and forensic anthropology. As with other types of mortuary treatment, the physical aspects of cremation detected by osteological analysis are interconnected with the meaning and symbolism of the ritual. The research involved the osteological analysis of a sample of urned cremation burials from the collections of The National Museums of Scotland. The analysis aimed to estimate not only the age at death and sex of the remains, but also to investigate factors such as the number of individuals in an urn, the effectiveness of the cremation process, whether the bodies had been cremated as fresh corpses or dry bones, the position of the body on the pyre, the range of pyre goods and the selection of remains included in the urns. In total, 75 urned cremation burials from 50 sites were analysed, a significant addition to the corpus of osteologically analysed Bronze Age urned burials from the Scottish Mainland. The results suggested a significant discrepancy between how fleshed bodies and bodies which had been through the pyre were perceived. Whereas fresh corpses were not modified, the burnt remains could be extensively manipulated until their final deposition within the urn.

The principal aim of the thesis is to investigate the mortuary practices of the late Iron Age period in south-eastern Britain, focusing on identification of the wider sequence of activity. It is evident that the deposition of the calcined remains and associated objects are just one element in a more complicated pattern of behaviour. A number of contemporary inhumation burials and mortuary-related features drawn from an increasing number of sites illustrate the wider practices in operation. The identification of pyre-related features and debris lies at the core of this study providing an opportunity to advance understanding of pyre technology as well as the mortuary rituals. This study provides an opportunity to advance late Iron Age mortuary studies in relation to the cosmological, political and ideological structure (Fitzpatrick 1997; Pearce 1997a; 1997b; 1999; McKinley 2000).

Abstract Mortuary rituals express and cope with disorder brought about by a member's death in the community. The autonomous connection of the deceased with the community is disrupted through mortuary rituals. In many cultures the subsequent contacts with the realm of the dead are maintained in formalized practices, sometimes including or referring to objects or patterns that can be traced in the archaeological record. In this study it is asked, if the Bronze Age and Iron Age burial cairns (1200 BC - AD 1000) in the SW archipelago of Finland might be interpreted as monuments establishing a link between the landscape and the religious context of symbolic meanings, thus making it meaningful to examine the spatial references of grave sites. The field studies include excavations, surveys, boulder analyses, and weathering studies. The number of cairns in the area is 444. Examination of samples of boulders suggested that the stones were usually collected from the adjacent terrain. The Schmidt hammer technique was applied to measure the weathering differences between basal and lateral surfaces, and possible secondary interference. The chronology of the archipelago cairns is based on previous studies related to general chronological characteristics and datings of archipelago graves. Using discriminant analysis, the size of the cairn, the convexity of the surface at the grave site, and the topography of the terrain were identified as the variables most related to the differences between Group P, having a Bronze Age character (147 cairns), from Group R of Iron Age character (218 cairns). Two models representing the shorelines of 500 BC and AD 1000 were reconstructed using a digital elevation model (DEM). Monte Carlo-testing was applied when the visible areas around grave sites were compared to reference sets in four subareas. The grave sites in Group P were often directed towards the land, whereas the grave sites in Group R were typically directed towards the sea. The difference might be related to differences in subsistence strategies. The cairns represented a conservative burial custom that belonged to local communities in maritime and northern areas, as opposed to the southern agricultural environments. / Tiivistelmä Vainajan omaehtoinen yhteys elävien yhteisöön katkeaa vasta yhteisöllisen kuolemanrituaalin lopullisesti päätyttyä. Monissa kulttuureissa kuolemanrituaalin jälkeiset yhteydet vainajaan kiteytyvät muodollisiksi käytännöiksi, jotka voivat tulla arkeologisesti näkyviin aineellisissa jäännöksissä tai luonnonmaiseman paikkojen, tilojen ja elementtien suhteissa. Työssä tarkastellaan, ovatko Turunmaan saariston pronssikauden ja rautakauden hautarauniot (1200 e.Kr. - 1000 j.Kr.) tulkittavissa monumenteiksi, jotka yhdistivät maiseman symbolisten merkitysten uskomukselliseen kontekstiin. Kenttätutkimuksiin kuuluu kaivauksia, inventointi, lohkaretutkimuksia ja rapautumismittauksia. Hautoja on 444. Lohkaretutkimukset osoittivat kivien tulleen kerätyiksi hautapaikkojen läheisyydestä. Tapaustutkielmissa kiveyksen basaali- ja lateraalipintojen välistä rapautumiseroa ja sekundaarisia vaurioita tutkittiin kimmovasaramittauksin. Hautaraunioiden kronologia perustuu aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin kronologisista tunnusmerkeistä sekä saariston ajoitettuihin hautoihin. Erotteluanalyysissa kiveyksen laajuus, hautapaikan maanpinnan kuperuus ja hautapaikan suhde ympäröiviin huippuihin osoittautuivat muuttujiksi, jotka selvimmin jakavat aineiston pronssikauden tyypin P-ryhmään (147 hautaa) ja rautakauden tyypin R-ryhmään (218 hautaa). Numeerisesta korkeusmallista laskettiin kaksi maastomallia, jotka vastaavat rannansiirtymisen kehitysvaihetta 500 e.Kr. (P-ryhmä) ja 1000 j.Kr. (R-ryhmä). Hautapaikoilta näkyvissä olleita alueita verrattiin satunnaisesti valittuihin verrokkipaikkoihin Monte Carlo -testauksen avulla. Merkittävin ero oli, että P-ryhmän hautapaikat olivat tyypillisesti suuntautuneet merta ja R-ryhmän hautapaikat maata kohti. Ero liittynee toimeentuloon latautuneisiin odotuksiin ja epävarmuuksiin. Hautarauniot merkitsevät konservatiivista hautaustapaa, joka kuului enemmän mereisten ja pohjoisten paikallisyhteisöjen kuin agraarisen ja eteläisen asutuksen piiriin.

No description available.

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.

This thesis discusses aspects of how the Late Neolithic society in southern Sweden changed through the use of metal. Particular focus is on how the different categories of the material culture were utilized in this process – the Late Neolithic flint daggers and objects of stone imitating objects of metal. The presence of metal in the Late Neolithic society is discussed and explicated by the correlation of metal objects to objects imitating metal. Imitations are not perceived as passive copies, but as a continuing dialogue between artefacts. These imitations are viewed as filling a function wherein they help to prepare society to express social and political processes in a different material, as a way to meet and relate to the new world-view that the metal objects implied through their existence. The difference between resharpened and non-resharpened flint daggers is explored through a variety of quantitative and qualitative analyses. There appears to have been two differing rules of deposition of the two types of flint daggers in the Late Neolithic society. Resharpened and non-resharpened flint daggers thus seem to relate to different societal spheres of significance in society. It is suggested that the flint daggers were used in varying forms of ritual body modification practices, as tools for alteration of bodily appearance. These rituals can be termed passage rituals – rituals connected to the individual’s journey through her life-cycle. The resharpening of the dagger blade is then to be understood as a ceremonial resharpening, a ritual remaking of the dagger. During the Late Neolithic, gallery graves, mortuary houses and votive offerings were used to express a connection to an older, ancestral ideology, based on communal rituals. At the same time a new ideology was expressed through the use of individual earth graves and ritual body modification practices. The human body, previously attributed an ancestral role, was now used as a medium of classification, signification and individual expression. The ritual practice works both as a societal regulator and as a way for individuals to express themselves in relation to others. The ritual body modification practices, manifested in different rituals of passage, may have been a way for individuals to relate to the changes in society during the course of the Late Neolithic.

La présente thèse offre une analyse critique du phénomène du suicide en milieu autochtone en s’appuyant notamment sur les croyances sur la mort et sur les rituels funéraires actuels dans la communauté atikamekw de Manawan, dans la région de la Mauricie, au Québec. L’objectif de la recherche est de comprendre la représentation de la mort volontaire chez les Atikamekw à partir des conceptions locales et de tracer un portrait anthropologique de la situation du suicide de cette communauté. La question du suicide en milieu autochtone étant un sujet sensible et difficile à aborder, nous avons choisi d’associer à notre recherche anthropologique, des discussions interdisciplinaires sur les approches sur le suicide, sur la mort et sur le deuil, tout en portant un regard sur les aspects historiques de la relation entre les Atikamekw et l’État-nation canadien. Le principe théorique retenu pour cette thèse est celui selon lequel chaque Atikamekw est perçu comme un agent de sa culture, qualifié à reconnaître sa propre situation politique et historique et habilité à proposer des changements sur le plan social et politique. L’ethnographie réalisée dans le cadre de cette recherche vise également à donner une intelligibilité empirique au phénomène du suicide et aux nouvelles pratiques funéraires à Manawan, tout en étant préoccupé par les liens établis entre les événements du suicide, le contexte historique et la situation actuelle de la communauté de Manawan. Une attention particulière est portée aux aspects sociaux qui y sont liés, comme la question de l’âge, du genre, des relations familiales et sociales, de la consommation d’alcool et de drogues, de l’accessibilité à l’éducation, des relations intergénérationnelles et de la relation entre les membres de la communauté et les professionnels qui travaillent. / The following thesis offers an analysis of suicide in native communities with a focus namely on the beliefs and funeral rituals that are currently practiced in the Atikamekw community of Manawan, in the region of Maurice, Québec. The objective of this research is to understand the intentional deaths that take place in the Atikamekw community based upon the native conceptions and to trace an anthropological portrait of the current state of suicide in this community. Suicide in native communities is a sensitive, difficultly approached topic; we have chosen to associate our anthropologic research with interdisciplinary discussions on the approaches to suicide as well as death and mourning, all pertaining to historical aspects in relations between the Atikamekw and the national state of Canada. The principal theory retained throughout this thesis is that every Atikamekw is perceived as an agent of their own culture, qualified to recognize their political situation and history as well as the ability to propose changes regarding their social and political state. The ethnography conducted in relation to this project aims to give an empirical intelligibility to the instances of suicide and new mortuary practices in Manawan, while keeping the relationships between suicide, the historical context, and the current state of the Manawan community established. A particular attention has been given to social aspects which are linked, such as age, gender, family and social relationships, alcohol and drug consumption, the accessibility to education, the intergenerational relationships as well as the relationships between the community and working professionals.

The nineteenth century in Spanish America exhibits a true saga of funeral ceremonies intended to exalt the role of great men in the configuration of the symbolic arsenal which contributed to molding the foundational mythology of nation-states. The Republican state language turned the association between hero, national body and posterity into a resource of the affirmation of national authority and social and political cohesion. Converted into keystones in the building of the national pantheon, State funerals carried out during the 19th century in the majority of the Spanish American republics became formidable instruments of political and cultural construction. Along these lines, the presen tarticle is occupied with contextualizing the slow process of placing José de San Martín as an Argentine national hero within the coordinates of 19th century European and Spanish American funerary rituals. / El siglo XIX hispanoamericano exhibe una verdadera saga de ceremoniales fúnebres destinados a enaltecer el papel de los grandes hombres en la configuración del arsenal simbólico que contribuía a moldear la mitología fundacional de los estados nacionales. El lenguaje estatal republicano hizo de la asociación entre héroe, cuerpo nacional y posteridad un recurso de afirmación de la autoridad nacional y de cohesión social y política.Convertidos en piezas angulares en la fabricación del panteón nacional, los funerales de Estado realizados a lo largo del siglo XIX en la mayoría de las repúblicas hispanoamericanas se convirtieron en instrumentos formidables de construcción políticay cultural. En esta línea, el presente artículose ocupa de contextualizar la dilatada empresa de colocación de José de San Martíncomo héroe nacional argentino en las coordenadas de los rituales funerarios del siglo XIX europeo e hispanoamericano.