Cemeteries are important sources of knowledge of the local and regional social history. Historical objects of sepulchral art (graves, tombs) located in cemeteries, with preserved inscriptions and epitaphs, represent also important source material for genealogical research. The article is an attempt at presenting past events and names of Poles who lived in Dawidów near Lvov, based on old and new gravestones and other source materials (lately recreated by the settlers’ descendants).
Our present archaeological record of funerary sites of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) from the area of Sandomierz Upland – 38, includes 35 gravefields and 3 inhumations inside storage pits within settlements (Fig. 1). Out of this number, regular excavation was made of 12 cemeteries. Results from this research have been published, even if only in the form of brief reports on the fieldwork, or, as in the case of the recent discoveries at Czyżów Szlachecki and Złota, are at a stage of analysis. The most fully investigated cemetery is probably the one at Malice Kościelne, with an area of ca 1 000 m2 harbouring two trapeze-shaped megalithic tombs and flat graves close by. Another quite comprehensively investigated is site 3 at Pawłów, where an area of ca 1 400 m2 was subjected to five seasons of fieldwork. At Stryczowice (ca 1 000 m2) investigation was made of the eastern and central sections of three trapeze-shaped tombs and a flat inhumation cemetery nearby. At Broniszowice also, investigation was made only of the eastern and central area of a single large trapeze-shaped megalithic feature containing graves within, found under a so-called ‘tumulus A’. Excavation at the cemeteries was less extensive and yielding from 1 (Czyżów Szlachecki) to 7 graves (Dacharzów) occasionally with fragments of accompanying megalithic constructions (eg, Święcica and Czyżów). Research in the Sandomierz Upland has documented the presence of two classes of TRB cemeteries: megalithic, where next to flat inhumations are found large mortuary structures (tombs) with a stone-earth-timber construction (Fig. 2, 3, 10, 11) and non-megalithic, with flat graves only (Fig. 4, 5). There is some proof that the latter may be of later date than the megalithic cemeteries originating around the turn of the 3rd millennium BC or early during that millennium, ie, are associated with the late phase of the SE Group of TRB. As already mentioned, isolated burials inside storage pits are known from a number of settlements. The typical form of the tomb is on a plan of a high trapeze, oriented approximately along the E-W axis (Fig. 10), with a chamber in its wider eastern part containing the central grave covered by a mound, either having the form of two burial chambers parallel to each other or a single chamber, in which case it contains a double burial (Fig. 8:1.2). In both these types of cemeteries the prevailing form of burial are pit graves with various stone structures (pavement, settings, cists, etc); in non-megalithic cemeteries they invariably have a roughly E-W orientation, in megalithic cemeteries the orientation is E-W (most cases) or N-S (Fig. 6–9). The dominant form is single inhumation in an extended supine position. Double and, very rarely, triple burials are also noted. Some of the dead were given a different form of burial, eg, in a prone position, bound, disarticulated, secondary and fragmentary burials, which suggests some sort of anti-vampiric practices (Fig. 12). No significant differences were observed in the furnishing of the graves found in the megalithic and non-megalithic cemeteries, but it was observed that the flat graves associated with megalithic tombs had richer inventories than the central burials in the megalithic tombs. The burials inside storage pits within settlements followed the same rules of position and orientation documented in graves in the cemeteries.
The cemetery in Ostrów, commune of Przemyśl, site 21 was discovered in 2013 during the construction works. The results of the study of this necropolis revealed more complex cultural and ethnic situation in the San River basin during the Roman Period. At least some part of the people using the mentioned cemetery originated from the eastern zone of the Przeworsk culture. Moreover, it is very likely that the cultural contacts with Sarmatian culture took place as well. The necropolis in Ostrów is also another site that confirms the growing amount of sites situated along the San River course in the period between the decline of the Early Roman Period and the beginning of the Younger Roman Period (i.e. phases B2-C1). It was the time of the expansion of the Przeworsk culture people into the Upper Tisa River basin.
The petition comprises five separate proposals, including a petition for the establishment of a tenant supervision institution, for the introduction into the Act of Petitions of a provision obliging the legislator to consider any petition that meets formal requirements. The author is critical of the proposals for unrelated legislative changes postulated in the petition. They are difficult to implement, unfounded, inconsistent with the current legal order and sometimes also unconstitutional. They harm media freedom, the right to petition and the freedom of churches and religious associations to manage cemeteries.
The opinion deals with a bill amending the Act on Cemeteries and Burials. The author points out considerable formal defects of the bill. In particular, Article 1a (1) of the Act, as amended by the proposed bill is inconsistent with Article 2 of Poland’s Constitution. The proposed definition according to which a human corpse is only that human corpse whose status has been documented, is logically false and leads to conflict between the proposed provisions and other legal provisions, thereby limiting the penal‑law protection of corpse from insult. The proposed definitions of human remains and ashes show similar defects. In addition, the Article 8 (4) of the Act as amended – selectively reduces the protection of personality rights of a legally separated spouse and, therefore, may be considered as expression of a direct discrimination. The provision in the proposed wording is inconsistent with Article 32 and Article 47 in conjunction with Article 31 (3) and Article 18 of Poland’s Constitution. Doubts are also driven by the proposed general normative preference of interests of some categories of persons entitled to grave and to bury the deceased in relation to other people. The author points out that the justification of the bill does not contain sufficient explanation of social and constitutional reasons of that regulation.
The aim of this article is to present issues concerning the presence of so called situlas (pottery vessels, no bronze) in Wielbark culture inventories from Wielkopolska. These vessels are very rare within cemeteries and settlements as well. And until now the criteria of such spatial distribution have remained unknown. In this paper so called situlas from Wielkopolska will be characterised, particularly in the context of their deposition in individual graves and within the necropolises, as well as within settlements. Further parts of this article deal with research problems connected with the role and meaning of so called situlas in Wielbark culture burial rite in Wielkopolska, in particular in the light of anthropological analysis results. The paper also presents the hypothesis explaining sparsity of so called situlas occurrence and very specific localisation of these vessels in the area of Wielkopolska. At the end of the article research demands and questions will be presented. They will enable and give direction for further discussion on the compelling issue of phenomenon of so called situlas of full spatial and chronological aspects of their occurrence.
Graves of infants and children belong to a specific category of medieval and modern-age burial culture. The relationships between survivors and deceased children have been complex throughout the Christian period presenting, in many respects, an unresolved issue, in which the fundamental Christian rules and the simple emotional relationship of parents to children were in conflict. An expression of this relationship can be seen in a number of written, iconographic, and archaeological sources in past societies and it represents an interesting topic for a widely-focused interdisciplinary study. The graves of new-born infants are one of the few groups that had a privileged position in the cemetery; the only other such category being perhaps people outcast from Christian society. It is on the example of the graves of children that we can observe the transformations of funeral customs and the grave as a means of different systems of communication — between the world of the living and the dead, between the dead, and between the survivors.
The archaeological heritage of Liubech (Lyubech, Chernihiv region, Ukraine) includes various monuments and objects from the Bronze Age to early Modernity (2000 BC – 17th century) with small time gaps. Archaeological surveys in Liubech began in the late 19th century and have continued until today with certain interruptions. Despite the close attention paid by scholars to the archaeological monuments of Liubech, it should be noted that the area of the city within its administrative boundaries (both the floodplain part of the Dnieper River and the densely developed part of the town) has not been sufficiently studied.
In phase B1, and very prominently – in phase B2 of the Roman Period, tribal groups of the north-eastern territories of the Przeworsk culture displayed a number of characteristic regional elements. These elements are mostly seen in female outfits that become much richer and more varied than elsewhere within the Przeworsk culture territory. The features specific for the Eastern Przeworsk Zone, like e.g., a very high frequency of dress elements made of copper alloys, would be largely the effect of mutual relations of these people with communities of the Wielbark culture from Eastern Pomerania. Though outwardly only ethnographic, this specificity of the material culture may have deeper underlying causes, since starting with phase B1, there is evidence of two basic types of Eastern Przeworsk cemeteries. In both cases, the women’s grave furnishings display general Eastern Przeworsk characteristics. In cemeteries of the first group weapon graves disappear already in early phase B1. These cemeteries fell out of use before the end of phase B2 and reflect the full, or nearly full withdrawal of the ‘Przeworsk’ community from that area. The second group form Przeworsk cemeteries with ‘standard’ weapon graves. From phase B2/C1 on, the Wielbark culture newcomers continued to use many of these cemeteries. Many of them were then continuously used from phase B2/C1 by the Wielbark culture newcomers. It appears that a part of the Przeworsk population from the Eastern Zone probably joined Gothic (Wielbark) tribes then moving south. Recently many brooches recognized traditionally as definitely ethnographic markers of the Przeworsk culture (types Almgren 43 and Almgren 129) have been registered in the western provinces of nowadays Ukraine. However, these finds are already much more numerous than those from the ‘core’ territory of the Przeworsk culture – for the time being, this phenomenon seems to be inexplicable.
This paper considers spaces associated with death and the dead body as social spaces with an ambiguous character. The experience of Western societies has tended to follow a path of an increased sequestration of death and the dead body over the last two centuries. Linked to this, the study of spaces associated with death, dying and bodily disposal and the dead body itself have been marginalised in most academic disciplines over this period. Such studies have therefore been simultaneously ‘alternative’ within an academic paradigm which largely failed to engage with death and involved a focus on types of spaces which have been considered marginal, liminal or ‘alternative’, such as graveyards, mortuaries, heritage tourism sites commemorating death and disaster, and the dead body itself. However, this paper traces more recent developments in society and academia which would begin to question this labelling of such studies and spaces as alternative, or at least blur the boundaries between mainstream and alternative in this context. Through considering the increased presence of death and the dead body in a range of socio-cultural, economic and political contexts we argue that both studies of, and some spaces of, death, dying and disposal are becoming less ‘alternative’ but remain highly ambiguous nonetheless. This argument is addressed through a specific focus on three key interlinked spaces: cemeteries, corpses and sites of dark tourism.
Archaeological research at the Khor Shambat site located in Omdurman in central Sudan has been conducted since 2012, when a team of scientists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences (Poznań) launched a salvage exploration of a Neolithic site and cemetery damaged by road construction. Research is now conducted within the scope of a grant from the National Science Centre, Poland (No. 2015/17/D/HS3/01492). Three seasons of fieldwork since 2016 have focused on the extensive prehistoric settlement spanning nearly 4000 years, from the early Mesolithic to the late Neolithic. The site turned out to be attractive not only for Mesolithic hunters-gatherers and Neolithic shepherds, but also as a burial place for the Meroitic and post-Meroitic inhabitants of the region. A survey of about 1% of the surface of the Khor Shambat site (KSH 1) resulted in the discovery of 66 graves; 12 of these are probably post-Meroitic, and of these three presented a rich and interesting array of burial goods, including imports from the Far East. At the same time, KSH 1 is one of the southernmost post-Meroitic cemeteries.
The government of the People’s Republic of Poland’s policy in the 1970s. on the religious and communal cemeteries was in accordance with the sectoral religious policy and laicization policy. It was dependent on the acquired political strategy and the law ensuring the safety and good health of the citizens. There had been many difficulties in the field of popularization of secular funeral rites. Despite developing a secular funeral ceremony and preparing a technical infrastructure there was one constant barrier: common religiosity of the people. It can be said that the complexity of the secularization processes, rooted religious traditions, and weakly developed services in the range of secular rituals were the most important difficulties.
Badaniami objęto roślinność krzewiastą i drzewiastą ośmiu obiektów leżących na terenie gminy Uniejów. Cztery z nich to tereny leżące wokół kościołów, zwane tu cmentarzami przykościelnymi, pozostałe to cmentarze grzebalne. Znajdują się one w miejscowościach: Uniejów, Wilamów, Spycimierz i Wielenin. W obiektach tych odnotowano 43 taksony drzew i krzewów, wśród nich 28 gatunków i 14 odmian oraz taksonu w randze rodzaju (Rosa). Analizowana dendroflora składa się z 22 gatunków drzew, 10 gatunków krzewów oraz jednego gatunku pnącza. Połowa z odnotowanych taksonów to gatunki lub odmiany drzew oraz krzewów nagonasiennych. Większość osobników z tej grupy drzew i krzewów pochodzi z nowych nasadzeń, nie starszych niż 20 lat. Obiektami o najbogatszej dendroflorze są cmentarze grzebalne w Uniejowie (23 taksony) i Wieleninie (19 taksonów). Najczęściej notowanym drzewem była lipa drobnolistna (Tilia cordata), a gatunkiem występującym na największej liczbie obiektów żywotnik zachodni (Thuja occidentalis). W badanych obiektach stwierdzono 14 drzew o rozmiarach pomnikowych. Zaproponowano objęcie ich ochroną prawną. Negatywnym zjawiskiem obserwowanym na cmentarzach gminy Uniejów jest uzupełnianie wysokiej zieleni gatunkami obcymi dla rodzimej flory, szczególnie drzewami i krzewami iglastymi.
EN
The study encompasses trees, bushes and shrubs in eight locations in Uniejów municipality. Four of them are cemeteries adjoining churches, and four are regular cemeteries. They are situated in Uniejów, Wilamów, Spycimierz and Wielenin. The studied dendroflora comprises 22 species of trees, 10 species of shrubbery and one species of creeper. Half of the taxons are species or varieties of gymnosperms trees and bushes, most of them planted not long ago (not more than 20 years ago). The richest dendroflora is found at cemeteries in Uniejów (23 taxons) and Wielenin (19 taxons). The most commonly found tree is Tilia cordata, and the species found in most of the locations is Thuja occidentalis. 14 monument-size trees have been found, and a proposal to put them under legal protection has been submitted. A negative phenomenon observed at cemeteries in Uniejów municipality is introduction of species (mostly coniferous trees and shrubs) that are foreign to the native flora.
Cemeteries are important sources of information on local and regional social history. Historic sepulchral objects, typically located in cemeteries (crosses, headstones, tombs, grave chapels), with well-preserved inscriptions and epitaphs, are also important source material in genealogical research. Today, of special importance is documenting the survived objects of sepulchral art in cemeteries located in the Eastern Territories lost by Poland. This article is an attempt at presenting the events and names of Poles who lived in Navaria near Lvov, a town later transformed into a village, based on the old crosses and headstones which have survived in the local cemetery, together with other source materials. There are few objects commemorating Poles in the historical part of the cemetery in Navaria where Poles were buried until the mid-1940s. In the past several decades, a majority of the Polish graves were destroyed. The remaining ones are testimony of Poles’ presence in Navaria.
The article carried out characteristics and assessed the status of sacrum in selected cemeteries of Roztocze region treated as monuments of the past in the context of the possibility of their use in tourism and sightseeing. We analyzed the characteristics of this region’s cemeteries belonging to the Greek Catholic, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Jewish and Protestant religion followers. Their genesis, war and symbolism were taken into account in the analysis. It was clear that sacrum was best preserved at war and symbolic cemeteries. It is due to the fact that they remain under the patronage of the state and burials no longer take place there. Their current architectural state was achieved as a result of competitions, or through the implementation of the rules governing the appearance of war a cemetery. At the same time, the sacred status appears to be threatened the most at the Roman Catholic cemeteries. Such a situation takes place as a result of a few factors. First of all, the cemetery is open; second of all, there is not much intervention into landscape architecture of the place by the administrator of cemetery.
PL
W artykule scharakteryzowano i oceniono stan sacrum na wybranych cmentarzach roztoczańskich traktowanych jako pomniki przeszłości regionu. Analizę przeprowadzono w kontekście możliwości ich wykorzystania w turystyce krajoznawczej. Oceniono charakterystyczne dla regionu nekropolie należące do wyznawców religii: grekokatolickiej, prawosławnej, rzymskokatolickiej, żydowskiej i ewangelickiej. Uwzględniono w analizie również nekropolie wojenne oraz symboliczne. Stwierdzono, że najbardziej obecne jest sacrum na cmentarzach wojennych i symbolicznych. Wynika to z faktu, że są objęte mecenatem państwa i w dzisiejszych czasach zamknięte dla pochówków. Aktualny wyraz architektoniczny uzyskały one najczęściej w wyniku konkursów. W ich przypadkach wygląd podporządkowany jest specjalnym przepisom np. decydującym o wyglądzie cmentarza wojennego. W analizach stwierdzono, że sacrum najbardziej zagrożone jest na cmentarzu rzymskokatolickim. Wynika to z racji jego otwartości i ograniczonej interwencji administratora cmentarza w stan jego współczesnej architektury i zieleni. Zdecydowanie najgorzej oceniono sacrum w odniesieniu do cmentarzy innych wyznań niż katolickie. Znaczna część cmentarzy szczególnie grekokatolickich, oraz żydowskich zatracają sacrum przy bierności miejscowych władz administracyjnych i gmin wyznaniowych.
Based on selected archival materials from the Bohemian and Moravian milieus, the study deals with the problems connected to the burial of people who committed suicide. The study seeks to demonstrate the extent to which the concept of ‘impurity’ and ‘tainting’ still played a crucial role in the period in question and how it established the legitimacy of a number of ‘parajudicial’ practices applied to the body of a suicide (cutting off the head and limbs, burning or burial of items that came into contact with the body of the suicide or objects which the person used to kill himself/herself). These practices, usually enshrined only in custom, might be interpreted as rudiments of purifying rituals with elements of protective magic that persisted in some localities up to the 18th century, often independent of the decisions of the secular and ecclesiastical courts.
CS
Studie se na základě vybraných archivních materiálů z českého a moravského prostředí zabývá problémy s pohřbíváním sebevrahů. Základ tvoří výslechové protokoly z velkostatkových a guberniálních fondů z pohraničních oblastí jižních Čech a moravskoslezského pomezí; jsou však konfrontovány i s případy z jiných oblastí. Studie se snaží ukázat, do jaké míry hrál ještě ve studovaném období klíčovou roli koncept „nečistoty“, „pošpinění“, který zjevně zakládal i legitimitu řady „parajudiciálních“ praktik aplikovaných na těle sebevraha.Do této souvislosti jsou pak zasazeny právě i „hřbitovní revolty“, které ukazují, že „lidové“ prostředí skutečně mezi „usvědčeným“ a „osvobozeným“ sebevrahem nerozlišovalo: zakopání do profánní, neposvěcené půdy se setkávalo s odporem jak u sebevrahů „odsouzených“, tak u osob zbavených viny pro duševní poruchu: obavy z nečasu, neúrody či poškození úrody panovaly evidentně u obou, a obou vládla představa možných „přízraků“ či „duchů“. Tento generalizovaný strach lze dát možná do souvislosti se zcela základními potřebami a obavami rurálních komunit, pro něž neúroda či projevy nepřízně počasí typu krup či velkého sucha představovaly události naprosto fatální. Chápání znesvěcení, „nečistoty“, pošpinění se tak mohlo v myšlení prostých poddaných zcela míjet s pojetím „oficiálním“, církevním či právním. Jeho logika – a s ním spojené „parajudiciální“ praktiky a strategie „vyloučení“ či naopak „očisty“ tvořily součást ochranné magie úzce spjaté se základními potřebami rurálních komunit – zejména těch odlehlejších a více ohrožených chudobou.
Denary oraz inne monety srebrne należą do rzadkości wśród znalezisk z terenów kultury bogaczewskiej i sudowskiej. Wśród przeważającej masy sesterców stanowią niewielki procent wszystkich znalezisk. Znajdowane były przede wszystkim na cmentarzyskach (w grobach oraz luźno na powierzchni) i skarbach. Sporadycznie występowały na terenie osad. W znaleziskach grobowych występują, podobnie jak sesterce, wraz z zabytkami typowymi dla późnego okresu wpływów rzymskich. Są to również najczęściej monety bite w I i II wieku po Chr., co sugeruje, że napłynęły w tym samym czasie, co monety brązowe. W znaleziskach gromadnych mogą występować wraz z monetami brązowymi (np. depozyt ze Skandawy) lub w skarbach jednorodnych. W tym przypadku pula monet srebrnych również pokrywa się z pulą monet brązowych - przeważają tu monety bite za panowania dynastii Antoninów, a najstarsze emitowane były za panowania Wespazjana. Przyczyną występowania denarów w kręgu zachodniobałtyjskim były najprawdopodobniej kontakty plemion zachodniobałtyjskich z germańskimi sąsiadami - przedstawicielami kultury wielbarskiej. Pod uwagę należy również wziąć możliwość, że napływ monet srebrnych na tereny kultury bogaczewskiej i sudowskiej mógł odbywać się za pośrednictwem Sambii, gdzie denary napłynąć mogły ze Skandynawii.
EN
Since the majority of coins found on the territory of the Bogaczewo and Sudovian cultures are sestertii, the bulk of silver coins sum up to only a few percent of all coin finds. They have been discovered mainly on the cemetries (in graves and as surface finds) and in hoards. They have been scarcely found in settlements. Grave finds yielded silver coins, just like sestertii, along with other artefacts charactersitic for late Roman period. The fact that all these silver coins and sestertii are dated to 1st to 2nd century A.D. suggests that they could have come simultanously. Silver coins have appeared both in homogenous hoards and together with copper-alloy coins, as in the case of Scandava and other collective finds. The bulk of silver coins from collective finds is also similar to the bulk of copper-alloy coins: the oldest coins are dated to Vespasian’s reign and the majority of coins are dated to the Antonines period. Denarii appeared in the West Balts circle as a result of the contacts between the Balt tribes and the representatives of German tribes from the Wielbark culture. We should also consider another direction of the influx of denarii to the Bogaczewo and Sudovian cultures, i.e. through Sambia, where they could have come from Scandinavia (2 maps, 3 tables, 6 diagrams).
This paper discusses the problem of Polish-Ruthenian contacts at an early stage of the Piast realm (from the rule of Mieszko I to the end of Mieszko II’s rule), focusing on the significance of written sources. It also looks at place names, possibly related to the Ruthenian population, and archaeological sources.
Abstract: The work concerns the finds of early medieval vessels of Tornow and Gross Raden type in cemeteries in Cedynia - the cremation (site 2) and the inhumation one (site 2a), which are the products of foreign origins, evidencing trade contacts of residents of western part of Western Pomerania with inhabitants of Lower Lusatia and eastern Mecklenburg.
In the late 19th century, the larger cities in Galicia including the capital city of Lvov followed the example of large centres in the Habsburg empire where private, licensed funeral parlours were established, rendering comprehensive funerary services. In the first decade of the 19th century, the Lvov authorities decided to affect the prices of funerary services. One of the reasons was intention to offer standard funerary services to the city’s poor inhabitants. The magistrate’s goal was to have its own communal funeral parlour which would also handle funerals of the city’s less affluent inhabitants. In 1909, the “Concordia” Municipal Funeral Parlour started operations. In the Polish community in Lvov, the burial ritual was directly related to the Catholic tradition. In the last two decades of the 19th century, an obituary published in the press made its way to the burial ritual in Lvov in the form still used today i.e. information about the death and the date of the funeral, sometimes also about a memorial service, graphically marked with a thick black border with a cross. The funerary ritual which emerged at that time remained largely unchanged in the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939). The situation changed after WWII when Lvov was under the Soviet and Ukrainianrule. While in this difficult time the Catholic church was persecuted, Poles living in Lvov made an effort to invite a priest to funerals of their next of kin.
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