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Death is not the end: radiocarbon and histo-taphonomic evidence for the curation and excarnation of human remains in Bronze Age Britain
Abstract
Cremated and unburnt human remains have been recovered from a variety of British Bronze and earliest Iron Age archaeological contexts (c. 2500–600 BC). Chronological modelling of 189 new and extant radiocarbon dates from a selection of these deposits provides evidence for the curation of human remains for an average of two generations following death, while histological analysis of bone samples indicates mortuary treatment involving both excarnation and the exhumation of primary burials. Curated bones came from people who had been alive within living or cultural memory, and their power probably derived from relationships between the living and the dead.
Introduction
Recent analyses of grave goods from British Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age burials have demonstrated that the curation of significant artefacts was an important social practice (Sheridan et al. 2002; Woodward 2002; Hunter & Woodward 2015). Often, this involved the deliberate fragmentation of objects such as necklaces and daggers as part of the funeral rite, a practice that may have allowed portions of such ‘heirlooms’ to be retained by the living (Jones 2002; Brück 2004, 2019). Historically, discussion of Bronze Age mortuary rites has focused on practices—such as complete individual inhumation burials with associated grave goods—that appear to substantiate dominant social evolutionary narratives of growing complexity. Increasingly, however, it has been recognised that Bronze Age funerary practices were highly variable (Petersen 1972; Sofaer Derevenski 2002; Gibson 2004; Brück 2006; Appleby 2013; Fowler 2013). Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age burials often include partial or disarticulated skeletons. In some cases, for instance when disarticulated human bones are found strewn through the backfill of graves, these may have been accidentally redeposited from disturbed primary inhumations. In other cases, the representation of disarticulated skeletal elements, the manner of their modification and the nature of their deposition suggest levels of care indicating intentional deposition. The question, therefore, is whether human bones, like other artefacts, were deliberately curated in practices involving their fragmentation, circulation and redeposition over protracted periods.
Cremation burial was also common during the later Early Bronze Age and subsequent Middle Bronze Age (Ellison 1980; Caswell & Roberts 2018). Deposits of cremated bone are often of insufficient weight to account for a whole individual (Brück 2006, 2009). Although this could be explained by the retrieval of only small quantities of cremated bone from the pyre, it is also possible that the cremated remains were divided between mourners for retention. Some cremation burials contain the burnt remains of multiple individuals. While contexts containing the remains of two or three individuals could be explained by simultaneous cremation, or cremation on the same pyre site, in certain cases the number of individuals represented is too high for this to be plausible. In these cases, it is more likely that cremation remains from several ceremonies had been accumulated intentionally.
During the Late Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age, fragments of disarticulated, unburnt bone, as well as small quantities of cremated bone, were frequently deposited in and around settlements, in roundhouses, waterholes and field boundaries (Brück 1995). The patterning of the skeletal elements represented and the spatial distribution of these finds suggest that they were deliberate deposits. As yet, it is unclear whether such finds represent the endpoint of prolonged funerary rituals involving the defleshing, fragmentation and selective redeposition of certain remains, or systematic curation, in which disarticulated and cremated human bones were intentionally retrieved and preserved for substantial lengths of time before deposition. Continued interest in old objects during this period is indicated by the inclusion of ‘out-of-time’ artefacts in Late Bronze Age hoards (Knight 2019).
The recognition of diversity in Bronze Age mortuary practices forms part of wider discussions around the significance of the dead and concepts of the body and the self in prehistory (Fowler 2010). The complexity of Neolithic mortuary deposits has been well described (e.g. Wysocki & Whittle 2000; Smith & Brickley 2009), and the architecture of Neolithic tombs often made it possible to retrieve human bone for manipulation, circulation and redeposition in other contexts. In the Iron Age, it has been argued that the skulls of enemies were curated and displayed in certain contexts (Armit 2012), although the careful deposition of very old human remains suggests that rediscovered bones may sometimes have been venerated as ‘ancestors’ (Armit & Ginn 2007).
The primary question addressed in this article is whether radiocarbon dating can provide evidence for the systematic curation of unburnt and/or cremated human bone from the British Chalcolithic to the earliest Iron Age (2450–600 BC), hereafter referred to as the British Bronze Age. We then investigate how long any curated bones may have been kept before final deposition. Establishing the timescales for these practices will help us to understand how these remains may have been perceived by the communities to which they belonged, and, potentially, provide insight into the ideologies that drove these practices and imparted power to curated human remains. It is important to distinguish, for instance, whether bones could conceivably have come from the remains of someone that the community knew in life (i.e. a recent or known ancestor linked with a specific family or lineage) or someone from the distant past who existed beyond living or cultural memory (i.e. an anonymous or mythical ancestor connected more broadly to the entire community).
Unburnt disarticulated bones suitable for curation may have been obtained in a number of ways. First, corpses may have been dismembered and defleshed. Few Bronze Age human bones show cut marks indicative of such processes, but this is dependent on the skeletal representation or completeness of the deposited remains as well as the dexterity of the person processing the body (Fisher 1995). Second, disarticulated bones may have been exhumed from old primary burials. Third, excarnation (sub-aerial exposure of the body before burial) may have been practised. Evidence for this practice, normally consisting of patterns of carnivore modification and characteristic weathering (Carr & Knüsel 1997; Smith 2006), is however ambiguous, as its presence would be dependent on the nature of the rites (e.g. the amount of time that the defleshed bone was exposed to the elements, and the extent to which the environment was sheltered and the remains protected from scavengers). Histological analysis of British Bronze Age skeletons found evidence that some had been mummified and fragmented (Parker Pearson et al. 2005; Booth et al. 2015), making it plausible that disarticulated bones in other contexts represent the fragmented remains of bodies treated in this way. We will employ histological analysis to address aspects of the depositional histories of unburnt bones and to assess whether the treatment of the body may relate to any curation practices.
Abstract
Cremated and unburnt human remains have been recovered from a variety of British Bronze and earliest Iron Age archaeological contexts (c. 2500–600 BC). Chronological modelling of 189 new and extant radiocarbon dates from a selection of these deposits provides evidence for the curation of human remains for an average of two generations following death, while histological analysis of bone samples indicates mortuary treatment involving both excarnation and the exhumation of primary burials. Curated bones came from people who had been alive within living or cultural memory, and their power probably derived from relationships between the living and the dead.
Introduction
Recent analyses of grave goods from British Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age burials have demonstrated that the curation of significant artefacts was an important social practice (Sheridan et al. 2002; Woodward 2002; Hunter & Woodward 2015). Often, this involved the deliberate fragmentation of objects such as necklaces and daggers as part of the funeral rite, a practice that may have allowed portions of such ‘heirlooms’ to be retained by the living (Jones 2002; Brück 2004, 2019). Historically, discussion of Bronze Age mortuary rites has focused on practices—such as complete individual inhumation burials with associated grave goods—that appear to substantiate dominant social evolutionary narratives of growing complexity. Increasingly, however, it has been recognised that Bronze Age funerary practices were highly variable (Petersen 1972; Sofaer Derevenski 2002; Gibson 2004; Brück 2006; Appleby 2013; Fowler 2013). Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age burials often include partial or disarticulated skeletons. In some cases, for instance when disarticulated human bones are found strewn through the backfill of graves, these may have been accidentally redeposited from disturbed primary inhumations. In other cases, the representation of disarticulated skeletal elements, the manner of their modification and the nature of their deposition suggest levels of care indicating intentional deposition. The question, therefore, is whether human bones, like other artefacts, were deliberately curated in practices involving their fragmentation, circulation and redeposition over protracted periods.
Cremation burial was also common during the later Early Bronze Age and subsequent Middle Bronze Age (Ellison 1980; Caswell & Roberts 2018). Deposits of cremated bone are often of insufficient weight to account for a whole individual (Brück 2006, 2009). Although this could be explained by the retrieval of only small quantities of cremated bone from the pyre, it is also possible that the cremated remains were divided between mourners for retention. Some cremation burials contain the burnt remains of multiple individuals. While contexts containing the remains of two or three individuals could be explained by simultaneous cremation, or cremation on the same pyre site, in certain cases the number of individuals represented is too high for this to be plausible. In these cases, it is more likely that cremation remains from several ceremonies had been accumulated intentionally.
During the Late Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age, fragments of disarticulated, unburnt bone, as well as small quantities of cremated bone, were frequently deposited in and around settlements, in roundhouses, waterholes and field boundaries (Brück 1995). The patterning of the skeletal elements represented and the spatial distribution of these finds suggest that they were deliberate deposits. As yet, it is unclear whether such finds represent the endpoint of prolonged funerary rituals involving the defleshing, fragmentation and selective redeposition of certain remains, or systematic curation, in which disarticulated and cremated human bones were intentionally retrieved and preserved for substantial lengths of time before deposition. Continued interest in old objects during this period is indicated by the inclusion of ‘out-of-time’ artefacts in Late Bronze Age hoards (Knight 2019).
The recognition of diversity in Bronze Age mortuary practices forms part of wider discussions around the significance of the dead and concepts of the body and the self in prehistory (Fowler 2010). The complexity of Neolithic mortuary deposits has been well described (e.g. Wysocki & Whittle 2000; Smith & Brickley 2009), and the architecture of Neolithic tombs often made it possible to retrieve human bone for manipulation, circulation and redeposition in other contexts. In the Iron Age, it has been argued that the skulls of enemies were curated and displayed in certain contexts (Armit 2012), although the careful deposition of very old human remains suggests that rediscovered bones may sometimes have been venerated as ‘ancestors’ (Armit & Ginn 2007).
The primary question addressed in this article is whether radiocarbon dating can provide evidence for the systematic curation of unburnt and/or cremated human bone from the British Chalcolithic to the earliest Iron Age (2450–600 BC), hereafter referred to as the British Bronze Age. We then investigate how long any curated bones may have been kept before final deposition. Establishing the timescales for these practices will help us to understand how these remains may have been perceived by the communities to which they belonged, and, potentially, provide insight into the ideologies that drove these practices and imparted power to curated human remains. It is important to distinguish, for instance, whether bones could conceivably have come from the remains of someone that the community knew in life (i.e. a recent or known ancestor linked with a specific family or lineage) or someone from the distant past who existed beyond living or cultural memory (i.e. an anonymous or mythical ancestor connected more broadly to the entire community).
Unburnt disarticulated bones suitable for curation may have been obtained in a number of ways. First, corpses may have been dismembered and defleshed. Few Bronze Age human bones show cut marks indicative of such processes, but this is dependent on the skeletal representation or completeness of the deposited remains as well as the dexterity of the person processing the body (Fisher 1995). Second, disarticulated bones may have been exhumed from old primary burials. Third, excarnation (sub-aerial exposure of the body before burial) may have been practised. Evidence for this practice, normally consisting of patterns of carnivore modification and characteristic weathering (Carr & Knüsel 1997; Smith 2006), is however ambiguous, as its presence would be dependent on the nature of the rites (e.g. the amount of time that the defleshed bone was exposed to the elements, and the extent to which the environment was sheltered and the remains protected from scavengers). Histological analysis of British Bronze Age skeletons found evidence that some had been mummified and fragmented (Parker Pearson et al. 2005; Booth et al. 2015), making it plausible that disarticulated bones in other contexts represent the fragmented remains of bodies treated in this way. We will employ histological analysis to address aspects of the depositional histories of unburnt bones and to assess whether the treatment of the body may relate to any curation practices.