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Project

FWO Sabbatical Prof. Guy De Mulder

Cremation was the dominant burial ritual during the protohistory in Belgium and the adjoining regions. Especially the urnfields of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age are well documented in the archaeological record. During recent years several new funerary sites have been discovered. The Scheldt basin has under influence from the Atlantic area a specific cremation tradition. The Meuse basin has more been oriented towards Central Europe. By comparing the cremation practices of both areas different cultural burial influences may be discovered. Radiocarbon dating of cremated bones offers a new window opportunity to date and study the occupation history of the urnfields and the evolution of the different deposition practices of cremated bone. The growth of physical anthropological studies on cremated bones makes it possible to reconstruct at a certain level the populations which used the urnfield cemeteries. These studies reveal also the norms within in a community to have the right to be buried in the communal cemeteries. Radiocarbon dating of isolated cremation graves has recently shown that the remains of some people were deposited on isolated places in the landscape. The Balearic Islands have a regional local settlement pattern with typical architectural features during the Middle Bronze Age (the so-called naveta buildings) and the talayotic structures of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. At Cala Morell and Cornia Nou two typical settlements of this period have been excavated. The study of the material culture found in the different layers and features at both places in combination with the available radiocarbon dates will offer the opportunity to reconstruct the sequence of the occupation history on both sites. The composition of the material finds will also reveal the specific functions and activities in these buildings.  

Date:21 Sep 2020 →  31 Jan 2021
Keywords:material culture, cremation
Disciplines:Protohistoric archaeology, Archaeology of the Low countries or Belgium, Funerary archaeology, Material culture studies