Abstract:This paper examines the containment and covering of people and objects in burials throughout later prehistory in Britain. Recent analyses of grave assemblages with exceptionally well-preserved organic remains have revealed some of the particular roles played by covers in funerary contexts. Beyond these spectacular examples, however, the objects involved in covering and containing have largely been overlooked. Many of the ‘motley crew’ of pots and stones used to wrap, cover, and contain bodies (and objects) wer… Show more
“…19) but, in some cases, children's grave goods imitate on a small scale the items found in adult burials. This was identified in relation to the small ceramic vessels in Bell Beaker children's graves (Case, 1995: 63; Turek, 2000; Cooper et al, 2022) and has also been posited for bracers, based on the example at Humanejos (Herrero-Corral et al, 2019). Some miniature pots have been attributed to young apprentices, owing to their poor finish (Garrido-Pena & Herrero-Corral, 2015).…”
Perforated stone plaques, known as bracers, are found across late prehistoric Europe and many of them have been recovered in Bell Beaker funerary contexts, usually associated with adult individuals. Experimental, technological, and use-wear studies have determined that the bracers were both utilitarian and symbolic objects. Very few are found in children's graves, but examples are known in the Iberian Peninsula, two of which are presented here. The analyses conducted on the two bracers, including archaeological contextualization, raw material identification, and technological and use-wear studies, allow the authors to reconstruct their respective biographies. Although these pieces were associated with young children, they had long lives before their final deposition in the graves. Use-wear marks on one of the bracers suggest that it was used in archery, despite its small size.
“…19) but, in some cases, children's grave goods imitate on a small scale the items found in adult burials. This was identified in relation to the small ceramic vessels in Bell Beaker children's graves (Case, 1995: 63; Turek, 2000; Cooper et al, 2022) and has also been posited for bracers, based on the example at Humanejos (Herrero-Corral et al, 2019). Some miniature pots have been attributed to young apprentices, owing to their poor finish (Garrido-Pena & Herrero-Corral, 2015).…”
Perforated stone plaques, known as bracers, are found across late prehistoric Europe and many of them have been recovered in Bell Beaker funerary contexts, usually associated with adult individuals. Experimental, technological, and use-wear studies have determined that the bracers were both utilitarian and symbolic objects. Very few are found in children's graves, but examples are known in the Iberian Peninsula, two of which are presented here. The analyses conducted on the two bracers, including archaeological contextualization, raw material identification, and technological and use-wear studies, allow the authors to reconstruct their respective biographies. Although these pieces were associated with young children, they had long lives before their final deposition in the graves. Use-wear marks on one of the bracers suggest that it was used in archery, despite its small size.
“…The deposition of the infant bones in a disarticulated state suggests that its body had been excarnated immediately after death. Assemblages of items that were probably deposited in organic bags are a common feature of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age burials (Cooper et al, 2019), and it is possible that these infant bones were kept in such a container, perhaps even worn on the body of the articulated individual during life.…”
Section: Depositional Process and Mortuary Practicementioning
confidence: 99%
“…The deposition of the infant bones in a disarticulated state suggests that its body had been excarnated immediately after death. Assemblages of items that were probably deposited in organic bags are a common feature of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age burials (Cooper et al, 2019), and it is possible that these infant bones were kept in such a container, perhaps even worn on the body of the articulated individual during life. Figure 1.a) Chronological model of the radiocarbon dates from Melton Quarry burials 1008 and 1009. b) Probability distribution of the difference between the radiocarbon dates from the articulated inhumation burial (SUERC 72661) and the disarticulated infant bones (SUERC 72666).…”
Section: Depositional Process and Mortuary Practicementioning
In this article, the authors examine radiocarbon, histo-taphonomic, and contextual evidence for the deliberate curation, manipulation, and redeposition of human bone in British Bronze Age mortuary contexts. New radiocarbon dates and histological analyses are combined with existing data to explore the processes and practices that resulted in the incorporation of ‘relic’ fragments of bone in later graves, including evidence for the deliberate re-opening of previous burials and for funerary treatments such as excarnation and mummification. In some cases, fragments of human bone were curated outside the mortuary context. The authors consider what the treatment of human remains reveals about mortuary complexity in the Bronze Age, about relations between the living and the dead, and about attitudes to the body and concepts of the self.
“…Here we see a community of objects drawing strongly on spheres of what is likely to be mostly female endeavour: the quern under her hand, forming a direct link between the body and the object which shaped it, and at her shoulder an object which had been intimately involved in clothing and protecting the body in life, perhaps wrapping it in death (Cooper et al . 2019. Together, envisaging grinding cereals and hide production as assemblages of bodies, materials and substances that formed emotional communities likely to have shaped female bodies, apprenticeships, lifeways and roles in the community, has revealed two probably deeply valued and symbolized taskways, largely overlooked as significant to Neolithic societies (cf.…”
Section: Sixth Millennium Bce: Tasks That Shape Bodies Identities And...mentioning
This paper explores notions of relationality and emotional communities to re-tell accounts of women's lives in the nineteenth century ce and second half of the sixth millennium bce, within the framework of posthumanist feminism. We argue that in both of these contexts women's work, spaces and material cultures have been devalued in comparison with those categorized as masculine. To counter androcentric accounts, we consider how different tasks and forms of material culture can create ‘emotional communities’ among groups, forming shared participation in social worlds. Our focus is first the mourning cultures of the Victorian period in the UK, where we argue objects of emotion may have operated to create shared spaces outside of the home, breaking down oppositions of domestic and private. Second, we turn to the ways in which tasks considered female have been downplayed in the Neolithic of central Europe, exploring the assemblages of bodies, grinding stones and hide working to show how emotional currents may have flowed through these materials, creating experiences of aging and different forms of prestige. In conclusion, we argue that the concept of emotional communities provides a useful methodology to answer the challenge set by posthumanist feminism of thinking difference as positive.
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