Deviancy in Late Romano-British Burial

Abstract

Studying the various ways in which Romano-British society disposed of its dead can reveal important information about attitudes towards and the treatment of certain social groups. The particular issue addressed here is, how can we study the treatment of those who contravened acceptable norms of social behaviour? Who were these people and did their behaviour in life affect their burial after death? Certain minority rites are almost invariably put forward as evidence for the treatment of socially stigmatized persons. This chapter aims to assess the evidence for social marginality in Roman Britain through a critique of traditional academic approaches and the evidence commonly used in analysis. Certain shortcomings are identified and a new methodology is proposed that brings us closer to appreciating the role of these minority rites and their implications for understanding the social identity of the persons to whom they were applied.

Different in death: Different in life? Diet and mobility correlates of irregular burials in a Roman necropolis from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1st–4th century CE)

“…The lack of a clear correlation between irregular funerary treatment and geographic origin fits with similar results from previous analyses (Eckardt et al 2009(Eckardt et al , 2012Killgrove 2010a: 300), therefore further suggesting the presence of a broad range of factors justifying an alternative mortuary treatment. Also, our results further support the lack of a clear association between alternative funerary practices and patterns of social ostracism and/or ethnic differentiation (Crerar 2016;Pearce 2012). On an individual level, it is of course possible that the different origin of TAV103 and 109 was somehow linked to the reasons justifying their specific funerary treatment.…”

“…The existence of interments characterized by unusual burial treatments of the individual that do not conform to what is known as normative burial practices within the respective cultures is a well-known phenomenon known to occur in the first centuries AD (but not only -see Murphy 2008;Reynolds 2009;Rittershofer 1997). For Roman times, burials described as deviant or irregular generally feature prone depositions, traces of mutilation of the corpse or skeleton, and burial artefacts such as amulets or other types of objects of possible ritual meaning (Alfayé Villa 2009a, 2009bArcini 2009;Crerar 2016;Milella et al 2009Milella et al , 2010Milella et al , 2015Pauli 1975;Philpott 1991;Taylor 2008;Watts 1998). Interpretations of these findings are still largely influenced by the link between uncustomary funerary treatments and perceived social deviancies established by Saxe (1970).…”

“…Christianity). The association between pagan rites and alternative burial treatment, and the implicit link between Christianity and normal depositions has been however recently criticized by Crerar (2012Crerar ( , 2016.…”