From the very beginning of the archeological discipline there is to be noticed a special interest regarding the funerary contexts – the funerary inventory, the body of the deceased and the treatment applied to it. It is hypothesised that these bodies, interpreted here as ritual waste, were sacriicial victims, and a number of possible explanations, including 'peripheral accompaniment' or victims of acts of war are debated.Īnthropology and archaeology have a long tradition in shaping a discourse on the phenomenon of death. ![]() We assume that these bodies in unconventional positions were not dumped as trash, but that they were a part of the nal act of a complex ritual. The focus of this article is the evidence recently arising from excavation and anthropo-logical studies from the Upper Rhine Plain (Michelsberg and Munzingen cultures). ![]() Other burials, of isolated individuals or multiple individuals buried in unconventional positions, suggest the existence of burial practices outside of the otherwise strict framework of funerary rites. Some of these remains in irregular con-gurations, interred alongside an individual in a conventional exed position, can be considered as a 'funerary accompaniment'. Key-words: Death death and society archaeology and burials Stone Age Pitted Ware AjvideĪmong the numerous human remains found in circular pits belonging to the fourth millennium BCE cultures north of the Alps, there are many examples of bodies laid in random (or unconventional) positions. Empty graves and graves with missing bones also indicate that bones of deceased ancestors may have been of importance in the death rituals that assured a Perfect Death. Well over thousand identified human bone fragments found in the cultural layers indicate bodies that may have been exposed above ground or used secondary and ultimately spread in the area. These are visible by inhumations buried on the back in single, or sometimes in double or triple graves, while some consist of individuals in a package mode where the body must have been in a state of decay when buried. The expressions observed from this site indicate the use of different rituals involved in the treatment of the dead. This paper deals with such issues exemplified by the Pitted Ware burial practices seen in the burial ground at Ajvide, Eksta Parish on Gotland. Ritual actions and burial practices performed within the frames of the prevailing social norms are a way to deal with conflicts and changed power relations. The death of a person creates a turbulent situation that needs to be sorted out. To be dead may not be easy for the non-dead.
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