Around the late third millennium BC small cup-shaped vessels began to appear in burial contexts across the North of England where they were found to be associated with Early Bronze Age funerary practices. Known by the name of incense cups, accessory vessels or miniature cups, their true purpose has been elusive. This study comprises an investigation of cups from Northern England and finds the tradition to be heavily influenced by Beaker culture practices resulting in the earliest cups emulating some attributes of Beaker ceramics. The Northern English Cup assemblage defies the current perception that all Cups are perforated as 63% are not; fabrics are found to be locally sourced and not imported and a review of the typology finds a strong regional adherence to the Food Vessel and Collared Urn tradition. Association in the grave with larger Urns is not as common as once believed and Cups have been found as the solitary ceramic indicating that they were important in their own right. Firing damage such as spalling has been interpreted as use of the funeral pyre for firing vessels prior to deposition with cremated remains and it is suggested that this is a recognisable signature of the cup tradition and therefore the name ‘funerary Cup’ is more appropriate. An active cross country trade network can be inferred from distributions of metalwork, precious materials and an affinity in some cases to Irish cups. / Prehistoric Society, Yorkshire Ladies Council for Education and the Andy Jagger Fund / The full text will be available at the end of the embargo period: 23rd Oct 2025

<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)

The crematory funerary rites practiced by those living in parts of mainland Britain during the first millennium AD included burning complete or parts of animals on the pyre. This thesis highlights the potential for archaeozoological analysis of faunal pyre goods using assemblages from the first millennium AD as a dataset. Experimental study and the integration of current research from a number of disciplines is used to suggest that although pyrolysis and cremation practices fragment and distort burnt bone assemblages, careful analysis can reveal a wealth of data leading to the interpretation of various forms of pyre good. The results of the author's analysis of material from the sites of Brougham, Cumbria, St. Stephen's, Hertfordshire, Castleford, West Yorkshire and Heath Wood, Derbyshire are combined with data from other published cemeteries to suggest a series of chronological and regional continuities in the use of animals but with a distinct change at the start of the Early Medieval period. The results from Brougham are particularly significant as they alter preconceived views on the utilisation of animals in Romano-British funerary practice. Cremation burials in first millennium AD Britain are shown to include the burnt remains of predominantly domestic taxa with occasional wild species. The pyre goods are interpreted as representing food offerings, companions, amulets, gaming items and sacrifices. This thesis demonstrates that cremated animal bone should not be disregarded but rather valued as source of archaeozoological data, and a significant functional tool for interpreting past funerary behaviour and animal utilisation.

This catalogue documents Roman lamps from the cemeteries of Gerulata (modern-day Rusovce). It consists of 16 Bildlapmen, 89 Firmalampen, and one special shape. These lamps were found mainly in two large cemeteries, in both cremation and inhumation graves, dated from the last decades of the 1 st century AD to the dawn of the 3rd century. Of the Bildlampen, several lamps with angular voluted nozzles (Loeschcke type I) and one fragment of a circular lamp with a rounded nozzle (Loeschcke type VIII) are represented. Of the Firmalampen, both Loeschcke types IX and X are found, type X and its variations being the most numerous (67 lamps). The iconography of relief decorations shows a range of mythological and profane images. Twenty different makers' stamps in relief are found, two without parallels, with Fortis as most common. The production, transport and copying of Firmalampen is described; resulting endeavors to locate their point of origin are determined to be often unreliable without chemical analysis. Both the relationship of lamps to other grave goods as well as their purpose in graves are assessed; lamps are found to have been an available luxury, as appropriate in a Romanized society. Most lamps had worn bases, and some had blackened wickholes; most are burned by their inclusion in the funeral pyre. The...

Les coutumes funéraires dans les provinces romaines reflètent les changements politiques, ethniques, économiques ou religieux survenus au cours du Haut-Empire. L'objectif de ce travail est de proposer une synthèse des pratiques funéraires au Haut-Empire en Pannonie et en Gaule lyonnaise afin qu'elle puisse servir de base solide pour de futures études et le traitement des documents inédits. A travers un bilan documentaire le plus exhaustif possible des données publiées et une analyse détaillée des informations aujourd'hui disponibles, il s'agit de mettre en évidence les tendances observables à l'échelle de la province mais aussi des particularités régionales. Cette étude, menée sur deux provinces de population autochtone majoritairement celtique, nous permet ainsi de mieux comprendre les tendances générales des pratiques funéraires dans les provinces occidentales, mais également de mettre en valeur des particularités régionales ou communautaires liées à diverses influences externes et des évolutions internes. Elle montre également la nécessité de s'intéresser à des indices parfois jugés secondaires, comme la position du mobilier ou son état, qui sont pourtant des indicateurs forts sinon plus représentatifs de ce qui était considéré par les communautés comme les moments forts des funérailles. / Funeral customs in the Roman provinces reflect political, ethnical, economical or religious changes which occurred during the Early Roman period. Their extensive study therefore allows understanding the influence of these events and the evolutions of communities. The main goal of this work is to propose a synthesis of the funerary practices of the Early Roman period in Pannonia and in Gallia Lugdunensis, so that it can serve as a solid basis for future studies and the treatment of unpublished documents. Through a documentary overview, as exhaustive as possible, of published data and a detailed analysis of the information available nowadays, it is to highlight the trends observable on the scale of the province but also regional particularities. This study, conducted in two provinces of predominantly Celtic indigenous population, helps us to understand the general trends of burial practices in the western provinces during the Early Roman Period, but it highlights also regional and local particularities, related to various external influences and internal developments. It also shows the need to focus on indices sometimes considered as secondary, as the position of the furnishings or their state, which however are more representative of what was seen by the communities as the strong moments of the funeral.

The Pitted Ware culture on Gotland presents a multitude of material that allow archeologists to re-construct and visit the socio-economic structure of a middle-neolithic settlement in the Baltic sea. I will be analyzing the archaeological material in accordance to the ocean, and to what we can interpret as ritual and cosmological variables at the site through ritual theory, and with a method of comparative analogy and research. How maritime aspects of divinity manifested itself to the PWC, ontology and belief system could perhaps reveal how the cognitive, collective mind of one culture evolved and made connections to otherworldly entities. Often in the form of ancestral worship, which will be one of the main issues that will be analyzed and discussed throughout, in addition to mortuary ritual. / Den Gropkeramiska kulturen på Gotland demonstrerar ett extensivt material som tillåter arkeologer att rekonstruera och besöka den socioekonomiska strukturen hos en mellanneolitisk kultur i Östersjön. Jag kommer att analysera materialet i relation till havet, och försöka utgöra havets rituella och kosmologiska kopplingar till lokalen genom ritualteori och en analogisk, komparativ metod. Sättet som maritima aspekter av gudomlighet manifesterade sig inom den Gropkeramiska kulturen på Gotland, dess ontologi och trossystem kan möjligtvis avslöja hur det kollektiva, kognitiva sinnet hos en kultur utvecklades och skapade kontakter till utomvärldsliga ting. Ofta i form av förfädersdyrkan, som tillsammans med begravningsritualer kommer vara ett centralt ämne genom hela uppsatsen.

The crematory funerary rites practiced by those living in parts of mainland Britain during the first millennium AD included burning complete or parts of animals on the pyre. This thesis highlights the potential for archaeozoological analysis of faunal pyre goods using assemblages from the first millennium AD as a dataset. Experimental study and the integration of current research from a number of disciplines is used to suggest that although pyrolysis and cremation practices fragment and distort burnt bone assemblages, careful analysis can reveal a wealth of data leading to the interpretation of various forms of pyre good. The results of the author¿s analysis of material from the sites of Brougham, Cumbria, St. Stephen¿s, Hertfordshire, Castleford, West Yorkshire and Heath Wood, Derbyshire are combined with data from other published cemeteries to suggest a series of chronological and regional continuities in the use of animals but with a distinct change at the start of the Early Medieval period. The results from Brougham are particularly significant as they alter preconceived views on the utilisation of animals in Romano-British funerary practice. Cremation burials in first millennium AD Britain are shown to include the burnt remains of predominantly domestic taxa with occasional wild species. The pyre goods are interpreted as representing food offerings, companions, amulets, gaming items and sacrifices. This thesis demonstrates that cremated animal bone should not be disregarded but rather valued as source of archaeozoological data, and a significant functional tool for interpreting past funerary behaviour and animal utilisation.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the relationship between grave goods and the identity of buried individuals. The interpretation of sex and gender, as well as gendered grave goods in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, is of a particular focus. A comparative analysis of 163 graves was carried out using an intersectional theoretic perspective, statistical analysis, and a database, with the Lovö cemeteries serving as the case study. The results of this analysis revealed certain patterns and variances that demonstrate a relationship between the grave goods assemblages that were chosen and aspects of an individual’s identity, including gender for some grave goods, but a lack of a correlation for other grave goods. Thus, it concluded that “normal” burials are influenced by factors such as facets of one’s identity, community standing and social status, familial ties and kinship, and lived experiences, with each grave tailored to suit the individual, and that gender as a whole has little influence on how a burial is constructed. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att analysera sambandet mellan gravgods och begravda individers identitet. Tolkningen av kön och genus, samt könsbestämda gravgods i yngre järnålders Skandinavien, av särskilt fokus. En jämförande analys av 163 gravar genomfördes med ett intersektionellt teoretiskt perspektiv, statistisk analys och en databas, med Lovö kyrkogårdar som fallstudie. Resultaten av denna analys avslöjade vissa mönster och varianser som visar ett samband mellan de gravgodssammansättningar som valts ut och aspekter av en individs identitet, inklusive kön för vissa gravgods, men en brist på en korrelation för andra gravgods. Således drog den slutsatsen att "normala" begravningar påverkas av faktorer som aspekter av ens identitet, samhällsställning och social status, välbekanta band och släktskap och levda upplevelser, med varje grav skräddarsydd för att passa individen, och att kön som helhet har liten påverkan på hur en begravning är uppbyggd.

This study aims to determine whether current and past research on the Badarian culture of early Egypt accurately reflects the evidence uncovered in the past and the evaluation of the excavation reports by the early excavators. An archaeological re-evaluation of the Badarian culture and relevant sites is presented in the introduction. Inter-regional development of the Badarian is crucial to placing the Badarian in the temporal ladder of the predynastic cultures, leading up the formation of the dynastic era of Ancient Egypt. The following thesis is not meant to be a definitive answer on the origins and placement of the Badarian people in the Predynastic hierarchy of ancient Egypt, but one of its aims is to stimulate discussion and offer alternatives to the narrative of the Badarian culture. A set of outcomes is presented to test all hypotheses. Research questions are discussed to determine whether the Badarian culture is a regional phenomenon restricted to a small area around the Badari-Mostagedda-Matmar region, or as a wider inter-regional variable carrying on into the later Nagada cultures. To reach a hypothesis, the chronology of the Badarian is analysed, in-depth study of the original excavation reports and later research on the Badarian question. An important facet of this study is a literature review of the Badarian culture, past and present. The Badarian culture had always been a subject of speculation, especially in terms of its chronology and regional development. There is no consensus on the chronology of dispersion out of the desert to the Nile Valley, as well as areas north and south of the Nile Valley. It is important to establish the concept of an agronomic sedentary lifestyle by the Badarian, and to re-evaluate the evidence for the long-standing idea that the Badarian was in fact the first farmers of the Nile Valley, also in terms of their perceived exchange and trade networks. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)

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