A place for the dead: the role of human remains in Late Bronze Age Britain

Abstract

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0079497X00003091How to cite this article : Joanna Brück (1995). A place for the dead: the role of human remains in Late Bronze Age Britain. .The disappearance of an archaeologically visible burial rite at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age has puzzled archaeologists for some years yet has never formed a specific focus of research. This paper aims to look at the problem in detail for the first time. A corpus has been compiled listing sites from which human remains dating to this period have been recovered. The contexts in which these remains are found are documented and discussed; these include, for example, finds from settlements, hoards, and wet places. It is argued that many of the sites do not represent the residues of 'normal' mortuary rituals but may instead result from other ritual practices or from refuse disposal activities. It is concluded from contextual patterning in the data that human remains were used in situations where concepts of liminality, identity, continuity, and renewal needed to be highlighted. The potential of human remains for symbolising these themes was drawn upon in activities during which concerns central to Late Bronze Age communities were confronted. The nature of these concerns is discussed in relation to wider developments that occur over the Late Bronze Age. It is argued that the ways in which human remains were deposited were intimately related to the development of new discourses within society as the basis of socio-political power changed from practices surrounding the consumption and exchange of bronze to the control of agricultural production and human and agricultural fertility. The symbolic themes dealt with during the deposition of human remains in specific locations relate to these changing concerns and allowed individuals to situate themselves within a changing society and to negotiate their relationships with others. THE PROBLEM DEFINEDAt the beginning of the British Late Bronze Age the tradition of cremation burial in flat cemeteries and under barrows came to an end. Archaeologists have been unable to identify the mortuary rite that replaced the burial practices of the Middle Bronze Age and from this point until well into the Iron Age the dead seem to disappear from the archaeological record (Atkinson 1972, 115; Burgess 1980, 158-9). This problem has been explored in relation to the Iron Age (Wait 1985;Whimster 1981;Wilson 1981) but the evidence for Late Bronze Age practices involving human remains has not yet been reviewed. Several researchers have, however, pointed out that the discovery of fragmentary human remains on certain classes of site is a feature of this period (Needham 1992); nonetheless, the significance of such finds has not been discussed in detail nor has a comprehensive corpus been compiled.The disappearance of an archaeologically visible mortuary rite is also an important part of the apparent de-ritualisation of the archaeological record that occurs over the Bronze Age. A landscape str...

Making the Dead Visible: Problems and Solutions for “Big” Picture Approaches to the Past, and Dealing with Large “Mortuary” Datasets

“…This is not a new observation -previous studies, often restricted to particular regions or time periods have reflected this (e.g. Bristow 2001;Brück 1995). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 The database constructed by this project represents only the start of this study, but it is intended to provide a much wider overview of the situation, making full use of both earlier and more recent records.…”

“…Within the Levant an obvious focus for further research is the uneven distribution of burial data from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 that are associated with other ritual practices or refuse disposal activities, either as cremations or body parts (Brück 1995;Darvill 2010: 221-223, 287;Hill 1995;Parker Pearson 2005: 113-114;Whimster 1981). Examples include the disarticulated and fragmentary remains found on settlements [e.g.…”

“…Examples include the disarticulated and fragmentary remains found on settlements [e.g. Brean Down, Somerset (Brück 1995 Programme which involves identifying archaeological monuments using data from non-intrusive survey methods. Aerial photography taken as part of this programme from over a 173 sq.…”

On the Curious Date of the Rylstone Log-Coffin Burial

“…With the exception of the recently discovered site of Melton, East Yorkshire (Fenton-Thomas 2010), Rylstone stands in stark contrast to what is known from elsewhere in Britain during the Late Bronze Age-Earliest Iron Age (Brűck 1995;Thomson 2011;Roth 2012;Warden et al forthcoming). Burial in this period in Britain has previously been notable for being difficult to detect archaeologically, with human remains in southern Britain occurring in cremated or disarticulated forms and fragments placed without grave goods in a range of contexts associated with settlements, especially in enclosure ditches (Brűck 1995, 257).…”

The Revival of Prehistoric Burial Practices: Three Archaeological Experiments

“…Many archaeologists agree in this point (see, e.g., Brück 1995). This leads to a feeling that the deceased, who had formerly seemed hostile, had turned into non-personal dead, who appeared neutral and could probably be influenced or persuaded with sacrifice or certain mode of conduct.…”