The Hittite burial material consists of a very heterogeneous material. The material shows some shared aspects between the different cemeteries and their grave types. However, this material lacks previous extensive comparative studies in central Anatolia. This study aims to problematize this funerary material, by re-evaluating the previous interpretation and by creating links between the different types of material and the cemeteries it was found in. This will be achieved by analyzing four different categories of Hittite graves from the three cemeteries: Osmankayasi, Gordion and Ilica. The total material consists of 268 graves: 91 from Osmankayasi, 46 from Gordion and 131 from Ilica. The material was originally excavated and published during the fifties and sixties by the three archaeologists Kurt Bittel, Machteld Mellink and Winfried Orthmann. The burial material will be analyzed to establish parallels and differences between the three sites, their materials and grave categories. Literary sources and empirical data will be used to supplement previous research but also the new interpretations discussed in this thesis. Keywords: Hittite, cemeteries, mortuary practices, Osmankayasi, Gordion, Ilica, cremations, pithos burials, pit graves, cist-graves, ethnicity, status, equids / Det Hettitiska begravnings materialet består av ett väldigt heterogent material. Materialet visar ändå vissa delade aspekter mellan de olika gravfälten och gravtyperna. Dock saknar detta material tidigare omfattande komparativa studier i centrala Anatolien. Denna studie avser att problematisera detta gravmaterial, genom att skapa kopplingar mellan de olika typerna av materialet och mellan de utvalda platserna som det återfanns i. Detta mål avses att uppnås genom att analysera fyra olika typer av Hettitiska gravar från de tre platserna Osmankayasi, Gordion och Ilica. Det totala grav antalet består av 268 gravar: 91 från Osmankayasi, 46 från Gordion och 131 från Ilica. Materialet var ursprungligen utgrävt och publicerat under femtio och sextio-talet av de tre arkeologerna Kurt Bittel, Machteld Mellink och Winfried Orthmann. Gravmaterialet kommer att analyseras för att etablera paralleller mellan de tre platsernas material och dess gravkategorier. Litterära källor och empiriskdata kommer att användas för att komplettera den tidigare forskningen och de nya tolkningarna i denna studie.

The United States entered World War I without a policy governing the burial of its overseas dead. Armed only with institutional knowledge from the Spanish-American War twenty years prior, the Army struggled to create a policy amidst social turmoil in the United States and political tension between France and the United States.

Avec les avancées des deux dernières décennies en matière d’analyses isotopiques, les chercheurs étudiant l’ère mayas ont conclu que les sociétés Précolombiennes étaient beaucoup plus mobiles qu’anticipées, bien qu’elles étaient des sociétés sédentaires agricoles avec de grands centres. Les études isotopiques, particulièrement le strontium et l’oxygène, nous permettent d’identifier la présence de migrants à l’aide de la signature géochimique des dents issues des sépultures retrouvées. Les isotopes de strontium présents dans l’environnement sont absorbés par le corps humain et reflètent la géologie particulière du lieu d’habitation d’un individu lors de l’enfance, alors que les isotopes d’oxygène en reflètent les précipitations. Le site archéologique d’Ucanal dans la région de Petén au Guatemala a révélé douze sépultures dans les saisons 2016 et 2017 de fouilles archéologiques. Sur les douze sépultures étudiées, trois individus se sont révélés être possiblement nés à l’extérieur du site. Ces individus mettent au jour deux moyens qu’ont les étrangers de s’impliquer dans leurs terres d’accueil. Ensemble, les analyses isotopiques, les restes humains et les traitements funéraires suggèrent un traitement hostile des étrangers, sous la forme du sacrifice humain et à l’opposé, un traitement particulier en lien avec le culte des ancêtres où les étrangers sont célébrés et commémorés comme fondateurs. / With the advances in isotopic analyses over the last two decades, scholars working in the Maya area have come to realize that Pre-Columbian people were much more mobile than previously considered, even though many were sedentary agriculturalists with large urban centers. Isotopic analysis of strontium and oxygen of human teeth enables us to identify the presence of migrants since they reflect geochemical and climatic variability of where a person lived as a child. Twelve burials from the archaeological site of Ucanal, in the Petén region of Guatemala, were analyzed for strontium and oxygen isotopes. In addition, a strontium baseline study of faunal remains was undertaken to identify typical values for the Ucanal region. Out of the twelve burials, three individuals were identified as likely foreign-born. Interestingly, they underscore two different ways in which foreigners were implicated in their newly founded homelands. Together with analyses of the human remains and burial contexts, the isotopic results highlight potentially hostile treatment in the form of human sacrifice or potentially reverential treatments in the form of a cult of the ancestors in which foreign peoples were remembered as important founding ancestors.

The thesis aim is to discuss the Gotlandic jewelry constellations and the difference in the jewelry assemblies between five Viking Age burial grounds on the island from an intersectional perspective. Differences or alikeness between the burial grounds are meant to highlight or decline a possible group dynamic on the island where different subgroups could be detected in an overall Gotlandic group. The subgroups could be a result of trad or local expression that show up in the jewelry constellations and by that means highlight an expression beyond the Gotlandic grouping. Following questions is discussed in relation to the different jewelry constellations in the graves, is there any differences between the jewelry constellations on the analyzed burial grounds that could indicate more than one group in the Gotlandic population during the Viking Age? How can different genders be visible in the jewelry constellations of feminine and masculine graves on the five burial grounds? If more than one group can be detected, is it possible to interpret a difference in possibility to express gender in the jewelry constellations between the burial grounds? The Gotlandic feminine jewelry has been interpreted as specific for Gotland during the Viking Age and has been discussed to show an overall group on the island. In relation to this, the five analyzed burial grounds show about a third of the graves having no jewelry in the graves and a varying jewelry constellation in the feminine graves. The thesis discussion shows a possible difference even between the jewelry in masculine graves on the burial grounds that has been analyzed which earlier studies have not highlighted. The result shows a variation both between the five burial grounds but also between the individuals. What earlier has been understood as the traditional Gotlandic feminine jewelry constellation has in the analyzes been shown to relate quite little to the actual material. Few feminine individuals have been buried with the traditional jewelry constellation, more often are they buried with a few Gotlandic jewelry items and with varying placements in the graves. In summary, the five burial grounds show a variation in local tradition and manifestations related to the Gotlandic grouping.

The inclusion of lime in burials is observed in historical and archaeological records, in contemporary mass graves and forensic cases. Clearly there are controversies within the literature and there is a general misconception of the effects of lime on decomposition. Recent casework in Belgium and the UK involving the search for human remains buried with lime, have demonstrated the need for a more detailed understanding of the effect of different types of lime on cadaver decomposition and its micro-environment. Field and laboratory experiments using pigs as human body analogues were undertaken to obtain a better understanding of the taphonomic processes that govern lime burials. The changes observed in the experiments were related back to archaeological parallels in which white residues have been found. The combined results of these studies demonstrate that despite conflicting evidence in the literature, hydrated lime and quicklime both delay the initial stages of the decay process but do not arrest it completely. The end result is ultimately the same: skeletonisation. Furthermore this study stresses the importance of the specific microenvironment in taphonomic research and highlights the need for chemical analysis of white residues when encountered in a burial. Not all white powder is lime. White residue could be identified as calcium carbonate, building material, body decomposition products, minerals or degraded lead. This study has implications for the investigation of clandestine burials and for a better understanding of archaeological plaster burials. Knowledge of the effects of lime on decomposition processes also have bearing on practices involving the disposal of animal carcasses and potentially the management of mass graves and mass disasters by humanitarian organisation and DVI teams. / Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the University of Bradford

<p>Located in southeast Italy, the site of Vagnari has been explored archaeologically as a Roman <em>vicus</em> that once formed part of an imperial estate. After the discovery of a cemetery on the property in 2002, exploration has yielded important results for understanding the lives and deaths of individuals in rural Italy from the first to early fourth centuries AD. Within the sphere of funerary archaeology and commemoration, there has been a shift in recent scholarship away from the monuments and practices of imperial and senatorial families in urban cities towards those who were underrepresented in epigraphic and textual evidence, namely ordinary individuals. Funerary archaeology presents one medium of exploring both funerary and burial practices in previously understudied areas of Roman Italy.</p> <p>Previous studies of the Vagnari cemetery have been centered around a catalogue of burials, artifacts, and pathology, with more recent work focusing on stable isotopes and ancient DNA. This thesis focuses on the artifacts and patterns of distribution to understand how burial practices may have been shaped by social, economic and legal status. The primary focus is not the artifacts themselves, but the ways in which material culture can be interpreted to address issues of social status and prosperity within the cemetery. Within the wider realm of funerary practices, this study aims to understand funerals in a rural setting based on the burial record by incorporating archaeological, literary and historic evidence, in order to situate the site within our increasing knowledge of death and commemoration in the Roman Empire.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

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.

Le peuplement ancien des régions allant de l’Iran à l’Inde en passant par l’Afghanistan et le Turkménistan est connu majoritairement par des échanges transrégionaux existant probablement dès le Néolithique. Du point de vue funéraire, les éléments accompagnant le défunt sont parmi les plus étudiés. En revanche, il est bien souvent peu fait état de leur contexte, à savoir la tombe et le défunt auquel ce mobilier était dédié. C’est en partant de ces constats qu’il est apparu intéressant d’enquêter sur ces peuplements anciens. À partir d’une étude approfondie des sépultures, cette étude se propose de reconstruire les programmes funéraires qui ont encadré les différentes pratiques mortuaires. Dans un second temps, nous avons cherché à souligner les traits funéraires communs de ces populations ainsi que les divergences. Sur l’ensemble du Balochistan pakistanais, seuls quatre sites ont livré des sépultures attribuables à la période Chalcolithique. Les sites de Miri Qalat et Shahi‐Tump ont livré plus de 200 individus répartis sur deux périodes pour le IVe millénaire. Sur le site de Sohr Damb, à Nal, un total d’une centaine d’individus sont dénombrés pour deux périodes situées au IVe et tout début du IIIe millénaire. Ces trois sites aux données inédites sont le cœur de cette étude. Nous avons rapproché nos conclusions des publications effectuées pour le site de Mehrgarh, où deux ensembles funéraires ont été étudiés, ainsi que des données publiées pour les pays limitrophes. / The old settlements of the areas extending from Iran to India including Afghanistan and Turkmenistanare mainly known through transregional exchanges existing probably as early as Neolithic. From the funerarypoint of view, grave goods are among the most studied items. On the other hand, there is often little mentionof their context, namely the tomb and the deceased to whom those grave goods were dedicated. It was fromthese observations that it became interesting to work on these ancient stands. Based on an in‐depth study ofburials, this work proposes to reconstruct the funeral programs that have framed the various mortuarypractices. In a second step, we sought to highlight the common funeral traits of these populations as well asthe differences. On the whole of the Pakistani Balochistan, only four sites yielded tombs related to theChalcolithic period. The sites of Miri Qalat and Shahi‐Tump, have delivered over 200 individuals spread overtwo periods for the fourth millennium. At the Sohr Damb site, in Nal, about 100 individuals are counted for twoperiods in the fourth and early third millennium. These three sites with unpublished data are the heart of thisstudy. We have compared our findings with publications for the Mehrgarh site, where two cemeteries werestudied, as well as published data for neighboring areas.

This thesis studies the famous boat graves in Valsgärde, Sweden and Sutton Hoo, England.  Its purpose is to understand the affects these graves had on the people who surrounded and visited them. Affect describes the first reaction when a person experience somthing new. The other focus of this thesis is the boat graves that seemingly lack buried people, and why the bodies in the graves are missing. There are some fragments of both humans and animals in the Valsgärde graves. In Sutton Hoo there are small amounts of remains from humans or animals, the osteologists have not been able to ascertain which of the two. There are some theories that the burials have been open for everyone to see, the question is then why and if this is the case, how did people react to this phenomenon, that is the boat-graves affects. The thesis concludes that the now missing bodies may have been exposed in the open for a long time, before they were buried. The soil´s acidity at Sutton Hoo is at pH 3,8 at the lowest, which has an impact on how well bodies are preserved in the ground. Both the soil and the exposing of the bodies might have done an equal amount of damage to the bodies.

<p>Mounds of fire-cracked stones is a typical Bronze Age monument for the region around lake Mälaren. They are usually, because of their content, interpreted as piles of rubbish. But as they often have kerbs, are situated on cemeteries and sometimes contain human bones, the traditional interpretation is not fully satisfactory.</p><p>The main focus of this essay is on the mounds of fire-cracked stones which contain human bones in the region north of lake Mälaren. With a detailed study of these, and a comparison with those without human bones, my aim is to get closer to an explanation why the human bones were deposited. The essay consist of a comp­ilation  of 98 excavated mounds and a database with various information gathered from excavation reports and archive documents.</p><p>With different kinds of osteological aspects taken in consideration, the study shows that human bones have been found in about a third of the mounds. The mounds with human bones more often have kerbs. The same types of artefacts are found both in mounds with and without human bones. A significant difference is that the mounds with human bones contain more categories of artefacts and sometimes even bronze. The study also shows that there is nothing that indicates that the bones were deposited after the primary use of the mound. The human bones could therefore had been deposited contemporary to the “rubbish”. To understand this phenomenon I strongly believe that the mounds no longer only can be interpreted as heaps of garbage.</p>