The cemetery in Marianowo is the first non-megalithic burial site of the Funnel Beaker culture (hereinafter referred to as TRB from German Trichterbecherkultur), which has been recorded in eastern Wielkopolska. It is also the first one where biritual funeral rites have been adopted. Despite the poor evidence, it might be generally dated to the Classic Wiórek phase (III), and even to sub-phase IIIC of TRB. All six unearthed burials were of children, and the question of the reason why one of them was cremated provides a wide range of interpretative alternatives.
The development of cremation in Central Europe is related to a broader cultural change in these areas at the turn of the second and third periods of the Bronze Age. The circle of urnfield cultures in a general framework was created in areas where grave cultures had previously developed. The new culture also means an ideological change, which is indicated by the new way of treating the dead. The information and values carried by the cremation ceremony were visualized through fire and props ‒ ceramic urns and other vessels. So, it was a combination of two different traditions. The first one, related to fire, referred to a complex of meanings associated with the glow of heavenly bodies. The second one concerned beliefs about the regenerative power and fertility of the earth. In turn, performative activities undertaken during the funeral, i.e., joint consumption, were intended to establish the status of the mourners. This type of rite conveys very similar content to inhumation in grave cultures.
The changes in funeral practices in Czech society which occured during the 20th century were more significant than those that took place during the whole of the second millenium. Traditional Roman Catholic Christian funerals which were performed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are described as a starting point from which the focus moves to a study of the major changes which took place from then onwards.
The changes in funeral practices in Czech society which occurred during the 20th century were more significant than those that took place during the whole of the second millennium. Traditional Roman Catholic Christian funerals which were performed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are described as a starting point from which the focus moves to a study od the major changes which took place from the onwards. The first half of the 20th century was specific in the emergence of cremation. The Communist era (1948–1989) was characterized by a huge expansion in the popularity of cremation (the cremation rate in Czechoslovakia had reached 55% by 1988) as well as by a significant increase in the proportion of secular funerals which, by the end of the 1980s, were being conducted for around three-fifths of the deceased. Contemporary Czech funeral practices can be seen as a direct continuation of those of previous generations and are noteworthy in terms both of having one of the highest cremation rates in Europe (80%) and, even more strikingly, the extraordinarily high rate of cases (around one quarter to one third) in which no funeral ceremony is held at all for the deceased.
The article presents new radiocarbon determinations obtained for collective graves from the Trzciniec cultural circle (TCC) in Central Poland. The dated graves were associated with the Konstantynów group and belong to the late phase of the TCC. As a result of the research carried out on this form of burial, it was possible to distinguish two types of graves and locate their concentrations in Central Poland in the zone where the materials of the Konstantynów group occur. The established dates, together with the technological and stylistic analysis of ceramic materials, make it possible to determine two time horizons in the late phase of the Trzciniec culture circle.
This article reconsiders and extends the interpretation of the heterogeneity of early Anglo-Saxon (c. AD 425/50–570) cremation practices and their mnemonic and ideological significance. Cremation burials frequently contain grooming implements (combs, tweezers, razors and shears), often unburnt and sometimes fragmented. The addition of these items to graves can be explained as a strategy of ‘catalytic commemoration’ which assisted in choreographing the transformation and selective remembering and forgetting of the dead by the survivors. This article explores new evidence to reveal the varied character and fluctuating intensity of these practices among cremating communities across southern and eastern England during the fifth and sixth centuries AD. The evidence suggests new insights into how and why cremation was selected as an ideology of transformation linking the living and the dead.
Cremation burials of Stone Age hunter-gatherers were found at 21 sites across the European Plain (including southern Scandinavia). In total, there are 54 graves and deposits containing bones of at least 89 individuals. Sites with Mesolithic cremations are unevenly spread over the European Plain and there are some regions where this type of burial was more common, such as the Seine Valley and the Low Countries, southern Scandinavia or north-eastern Poland. In all of these regions, the oldest burials are dated to the Early Mesolithic, which indicates a parallel and independent origin of this custom. Moreover, each region or even cemetery has its own features of the cremation rite. In both the Western European Plain and southern Scandinavia, most burials are dated to the Middle Mesolithic and there are only a few examples linked to the Late Mesolithic. North-eastern Poland, including the Dudka cemetery, is probably the only region where cremation was practised on a wider scale in the Late Mesolithic and para-Neolithic. The share of cremations among all burial types differs between regions and cemeteries. It was probably a dominant practice in the Middle Mesolithic in the Netherlands. In other cases, cremation probably involved a large part of the local hunter-gatherer society, for instance at the Dudka cemetery in Masuria or in the Middle Mesolithic of Vedbæk Fiord (Zealand), whereas at the cemeteries in Skateholm it amounted to only a few percent, suggesting that it was practised in the case of the deceased of particular status or in unusual circumstances only.
The article presents the results of research into an early medieval kurgan in Chodlik, Karczmiska county, where cremated human and horse remains were discovered. The settlement complex in Chodlik (8th-10th c.) forms a vast hillfort of more than 8 ha and the surrounding hamlets. For over a century, it has been subjected to archaeological excavations but it was not until recently that the related cremation burial sites were identified. The first kurgan, examined in 2010, contained buried remains of a human and a horse, most probably buried at a stake together. The other objects found in the upper part of the kurgan included pieces of clay vessels and bronze elements of a horse tack. By means of radiocarbon dating, the burial site’s chronology has been established as the 8th-9th centuries. The text presents comparative analyses with other famous discoveries of the type and considerations of the importance of horses to the early medieval Slavs.
The subject of this article is the fi rst eneolithic cremation burial in south-eastern Poland which was discovered on the cemetery of the Lublin-Volhynia culture at site 2 in Książnice, voiv. świętokrzyskie. Grave 14 was unearthed while exploring the western part of the necropolis in August 2012. The burial pit, 122 x 75 cm, was shaped like a rectangle with rounded corners, elongated along the north-south axis. In the southern part of the grave, at the depth of 40-45 cm, a concentration of charred human bones was found belonging to an individual at the age of maturus. The grave goods consist of two clay vessels (a pear-shaped cup with knobs on the larger bulge of its body, and a miniature pot with a gooseneck profi le and notched spout) and twelve fl int artefacts. The analyzed burial is another example of the intense cultural infl uences of the Hunyadihalom-Lažňany horizon to the late younger Danubian communities inhabiting Lesser Poland at the turn of the 5th and 4th millennia BC.
The oldest horizon of the Trzciniec culture spanned over vast geographical areas and its graves may be distinguished by the presence of very specific vases and beakers (Fig. 1). The characteristic features of ceramics allow for distinguishing a group of burials with an early date. Such graves contained similar furnishings and they are known from nearly all parts of the Trzciniec cultural milieu in the area of Poland (Fig. 2–8). Parallel assemblages of archeological finds are also known from western Ukraine. The broad chronological span of the discussed notions may prove the hypothesis that they reflect a relatively short chronological horizon, probably limited to the 17th century BC. The funerary practices of the Trzciniec culture were very diverse already at the early stages of its development and included flat cremation graves with urns, pit-graves and diverse forms of both single and multiple inhumations. Inhumation and cremation graves have also been found in mounds.
In the Late Iron Age biritual cemetery from Fântânele-Dealul Iuşului / La Gâţa the remains of 43 individuals from 41 graves have been excavated to this day. The analysis of inhumation and cremation burials allowed for a paleodemographic study of this community settled on the fringes of the Celtic world. In addition to data on the sex and age or intravital body height of the deceased, pathological changes and epigenetic traits were also observed in some cases. Furthermore, analyses of the cremated human remains also brought to light different characteristics of burial habits, such as burning temperature or the rate of collection of the remains from the pyre.
A sample of six cremated graves from the Lusatian Culture cemetery from Podlesie, site 5, has been subjected to a spatial analysis aimed at recognising anatomical provenance of bone fragments within the layers of the urn burial. Even though individual features have shown damage ranging from slight to severe, most of the burials have shown an indication of a repeated pattern, with skull fragments predominantly present in the upper layers (Chi2 = 43.968, df = 16, p < 0.001) and lower limb fragments accumulated in the lower parts of the urn (Chi2 = 28.635, df = 16, p = 0.027). In the case of the torso (the term used to describe postcranial axial skeletal fragments together with pectoral and pelvic girdles’ elements) and upper limb, the analysis has not shown statistically significant distribution between the layers. The analysis confirmed the advantage of the proposed method in determining the presence of the so-called ‘anatomical order’ within cremation burials.
Materials from the cemetery at Marianowo, Stargard district, site 1 include 55 features, 11 pottery groups and more than 30 metal artefacts. They have typical qualities of the earliest phase of the Jastorf culture in Western Pomerania. The influence of the Lusatian and Pomeranian cultures is very strong in burial and in a typology of artefacts. The cemetery was the basis for distinguishing the Marianowo phase.
The burial of the deceased in different cultures and historical periods took many forms. Rituals and related traditions are strongly rooted in most cultures, and even a progressive change in attitudes towards the environment and the concept of life after life will probably not displace these traditions in the near future. The most common form of burial is burying the body of the deceased in the ground, in a coffin. This traditional method generates two problems: the growing demand for a burial site and the harmful impact on the environment. There are a number of cemeteries next to the metropolises, which are growing to accommodate new graves. Many are already running out of places. Alternative methods of burying the dead are needed. Cremation appeared and in some countries: composting, resomation, promesia, considered ecological but not everywhere allowed by law. In Poland, according to secular and church law, burials can only take place in cemeteries, both in the form of burying the body in the ground and burying ashes.
PL
Pochowanie zmarłego w różnych kulturach i okresach historycznych przybierało rozmaite formy. Obrzędy i związane z nimi tradycje są silnie zakorzenione w większości kultur i nawet postępująca zmiana nastawienia do środowiska i koncepcji życia po życiu nie wyprze tych tradycji zapewne w najbliższej przyszłości. Najczęstszą formą pochówku jest grzebanie ciała zmarłego w ziemi, w trumnie. Ta tradycyjna metoda generuje dwa problemy: rosnące zapotrzebowanie na miejsce do pochówku i szkodliwy wpływ na środowisko naturalne. Przy metropoliach znajduje się szereg cmentarzy, które się rozrastają, by pomieścić nowe groby. Na wielu brakuje już miejsc. Potrzebne są alternatywne metody grzebania zmarłych. Pojawiła się kremacja, a w niektórych państwach: kompostowanie, resomacja, promesja, uważane za ekologiczne, ale nie wszędzie dopuszczalne przez prawo. W Polsce zgodnie z prawem świeckim i kościelnym pochówki mogą mieć miejsce tylko na cmentarzach zarówno w formie pochowania ciała w ziemi, jak i pochowania prochów.
Zwyczaj grzebania zmarłych jest tradycją najściślej zakorzenioną w chrześcijańskiej antropologii i najlepiej ją wyrażającą, objawioną w Biblii konsekwencją grzechu pierworodnego, wyrazem oczekiwania na zmartwychwstanie i aktem naśladowania Chrystusa, który został złożony w grobie. W nauczaniu katolickim pochówek jest uczynkiem miłosierdzia względem ciała, aktem troski o zmarłego i jego bliskich. Zyskujący na popularności zwyczaj kremacji jest przez Kościół uznany za dopuszczalny ze względow zdrowotnych, gospodarcznych lub społecznych. Szczątki ludzkie, również formie popiołu, zawsze powinny być złożone w grobie lub umieszczone w kolumbarium. Formą nieakceptowaną przez Kościół są praktyki resomacji i kompostowania ciał zmarłych. Alternatywne formy upamiętnienia ciała ludzkiego lub jego szczątków, choć zachęcają swoją estetyką i przesłaniem, są nie tylko obce chrześcijańskim zwyczajom, ale sprzeczne z chrześcijańską nauką o pochodzeniu, naturze i przeznaczeniu człowieka.
EN
The custom of burying the dead is not merely commonly accepted by Christianity the way of disposal of the human body after the death. It is most deeply rooted and perfectly expressing Christian anthropology, revealed in the Holy Scriptures as a consequence of original sin, sign of hope in the Resurrection, and imitation of Christ, who was buried in the tomb. In Catholic view the burial is a corporal work of mercy, act of care for the dead and their loved ones. Gaining popularity the practice of cremation is accepted by the Church for the sake of hygiene, economy, or community. Human remains, also in the form of ashes, always must be buried or placed in the columbarium. Church does not allow the human body to be disposed via resomation or promession. Alternative forms of memorializing the deceased, though attractive esthetically and sentimentally, are not only outlandish in Christian culture, but also contrary to the Christian teaching on origins, nature, and destination of the human person.
The purpose of this paper is to present the problem of the burial of bodies and the storage of ashes of the faithful departed in the canonical-liturgical aspect. The Church demands respect for human bodies and ashes. The first part of the article presents the burial of corpses in the ground as an ordinary and basic form of Christian burial. The second part presents the problem of cremation as an acceptable way of burying the bodies of the faithful departed, while the second part discusses the question of the place of burial of the bodies and storing the ashes of the faithful departed.
During the 1st-3rd centuries AD, waves of migrations repeatedly swept through the area of present-day western Ukraine. As evidenced by archaeological materials, migrations of Dacian and Przeworsk populations at the beginning of the 1st century AD and during the 2nd century led to the formation of the Lipitsa culture in this region, a cultural unit combining ethnic traits of both communities. Turbulent times of the Marcomannic Wars (166–180 AD) and a new wave of Przeworsk culture migration pushed the Lipitsa population out to Dacia. The distribution of archaeological sites from the late 2nd-3rd cent. AD shows that the Danube region was not the only direction of the Przeworsk tribes’ movement, as they also resettled and colonised new territories in the Volhynia, Podolia, and Polesia regions. Thus, the Przeworsk populations migrating to the western Ukraine in the first two centuries AD blended with the Dacian milieu, contributing to the creation of the Lipitsa culture. The Przeworsk populations of the second wave, which moved to the territory of Ukraine towards the end of the 2nd century and in the first half of the 3rd century AD, became the basis and a major component of a new cultural unit: the Chernyakhov culture of the Late Roman Period.
Artykuł przedstawia główne wyniki badań cmentarzysk z drugiej połowy I – początku II tysiąclecia w górnym biegu Wilii na północnym zachodzie Białorusi, przeprowadzonych w latach 2012–2021. Region ten jest dobrze znany w literaturze, ponieważ ukierunkowane badania archeologiczne rozpoczęły się tam w połowie XIX wieku. Skupienie uwagi kilku pokoleń badaczy na obiektach pogrzebowych w regionie Górnej Wilii wynikało w dużej mierze z położenia geograficznego regionu, znajdującego się na granicy świata słowiańskiego i bałtyckiego. Głównymi celami opisanych w artykule badań były: 1) opracowanie, usystematyzowanie i publikacja jak najpełniejszej dokumentacji sprawozdawczej oraz materiałów z wykopalisk prowadzonych na cmentarzyskach kurhanowych w regionie Górnej Wilii w poprzednich latach; 2) weryfikacja spornych kwestii w interpretacji topografii, chronologii i cech obrządku pogrzebowego na poszczególnych cmentarzyskach poprzez przeprowadzenie nowych terenowych badań archeologicznych; 3) popularyzacja wiedzy o cmentarzyskach kurhanowych w regionie Górnej Wilii. W ramach tych prac zespół badawczy kierowany przez autorów przeprowadził wykopaliska na cmentarzyskach Nawry I, Nawry II, Kostyki, Góry i Kamień-1. W wyniku badań udało się dokonać periodyzacji obrządku pogrzebowego ludności tego regionu i wydzielić trzy okresy w jego rozwoju. Ważnym elementem prac badaczy było też upowszechnienie wiedzy o cmentarzyskach kurhanowych wśród szerokiego grona odbiorców.
EN
The article presents the main results of the study of burial sites of the 2nd half of the 1st – early 2nd millennium in the upper reaches of the Vilija River in the north-western part of Belarus, which was carried out in the years 2012–2021. This region is well known in the literature, since targeted archaeological research began there in the middle of the 19th century. The close attention of several generations of researchers to the burial antiquities of the Upper Vilija Region was largely due to the geographical position of the region, located on the border of the Slavic and Baltic worlds. The main objectives of the research described in this article were: 1) study, systematization and publication of the most complete reporting documentation and materials of excavations of barrow cemeteries in the Upper Vilija Region, carried out in previous years; 2) verification of debatable points in the interpretation of topography, chronology and features of the burial rite of individual burial sites by conducting new f ield archaeological research; 3) popularization of knowledge about the burial sites of the Upper Vilija Region. In the course of this work, a research team led by the authors carried out a study of the burial sites Naŭry I, Naŭry II, Kastyki, Hury and Kamena-1. As a result of the research, it became possible to establish a periodization of the burial rites of the population of this region and to distinguish three periods in its development. An important element of the work was also the dissemination of knowledge about barrow cemeteries to a wide audience.
This paper aims to analyse the gas chambers of concentration camp Lublin (Majdanek) not using only a descriptive perspective but also exploring the controversy in the interpretation of their function which appears as an integral part of historical conclusions they have been published on this topic. The structure of this paper is based on the analysis of each of Majdanek gas chambers with respect to the different opinion of particular historians they are exploring relatively thin source base. The big emphasis is put on the person of present director of State Museum at Majdanek, Tomasz Kranz, whose focus on the Majdanek gas chambers represents considerable part of his research carrier that gave an important impulse for transforming the appearance of museum’s information apparatus connected with former places where the killing by gassings took place at Majdanek. The paper uncovers the killing past of the camp as a place with homicidal gas chambers although they played more likely a shadow role in the comparison with Auschwitz-Birkenau. There is a rare source base of witnesses’ accounts they could serve for transparent reconstruction of gassing procedure in the camp as well as its background. Nevertheless some of these accounts were preserved and became an important source substance explored by the author of this paper.
CS
Studie má za cíl analyzovat plynové komory v koncentračním táboře Lublin (Majdanek) nejen z popisného hlediska, ale také s ohledem na kontroverzní interpretace jejich funkce, jež reprezentují nedílnou součást historických závěrů publikovaných na dané téma. Struktura studie staví na rozboru každé z majdanských plynových komor s přihlédnutím k lišícím se stanoviskům jednotlivých historiků, čerpajících z poměrně úzké pramenné základny. Velký důraz je kladen na osobnost současného ředitele Státního muzea na Majdanku, Tomasze Kranze, jenž problematice majdanských plynových komor věnoval značnou část své badatelské kariéry. Ta se zároveň stala důležitým impulsem k přeměně vzhledu muzeálního informačního aparátu, provázejícího bývalá místa spojená s vražděním vězňů plynem na Majdanku. Studie odkrývá vražednou historii tábora jako místa, kde byly smrtící plynové komory, přestože v porovnání s Osvětimí Březinkou zde plnily jakousi stínovou funkci. Vzhledem k tomu existuje mizivé množství svědectví, na jejichž základě by bylo možné rekonstruovat plynovací procedury v táboře a jejich zákulisí. Přesto se některá taková svědectví dochovala a stala se důležitým zdrojem, ze kterého čerpal autor předkládané studie.
The aim of this article is the analysis of regional and social differences in burial ceremonies. It summarizes the results of a qualitative research conducted in five Polish regions: West Pomerania, Podkarpacie, Podlasie, Podhale, and Warsaw with its surrounding. The qualitative data comes from unstructured individual interviews conducted with funeral parlors’ owners and their employees. Funeral parlors perform an increasingly important roles in burial ceremonies, while their owners demonstrate sound knowledge of the social expectations towards the organization of funerals.
PL
Celem artykułu jest analiza regionalnych i społecznych zróżnicowań pochówków. Badanie jakościowe zostało przeprowadzone w pięciu regionach – na Pomorzu Zachodnim, Podkarpaciu, Podlasiu, Podhalu oraz w Warszawie i jej okolicach. Źródłem danych do prowadzonych analiz są wywiady swobodne przeprowadzone z przedsiębiorcami pogrzebowymi i pracownikami zakładów pogrzebowych. Przedsiębiorcy z branży funeralnej pełnią coraz większą rolę w chowaniu zmarłych, a ponadto dysponują dogłębną wiedzą o społecznych oczekiwaniach wobec organizacji pogrzebów.
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