The Protohistoric ‘Quicklime Burials’ from the Balearic Islands: Cremation or Inhumation

Strydonck, Mark Van; Decq, Louise; Brande, Tess van den; Boudin, Mathieu; Ramis, Damià; Borms, Herlinde; Mulder, Guy De

doi:10.1002/oa.2307

Cited by 24 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The attribution of the band, which is absent in black pigments of a different origin, is not sure. According to some authors it is characteristic of isocy-anate, thiocyanate, and isothyocianate groups related to degradation products of proteins [Tomasini 2012]; elsewhere the band is assigned to cyanamide formed during heating of the apatite contained in bones [Ren 2014, Van Strydonck 2015. The band is also associated with calcium phosphate Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 (stretching of ion phosphate) [Miliani 2007].…”

Section: Infrared Reflection Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez

Rampazzi

Brunello

Corti

et al. 2017

Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectros

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This paper describes the first systematic analysis of the palette of Francesco Hayez, one of the most outstanding artists of European Romanticism, whose painting technique has never been extensively investigated despite the plethora of artistic studies. He lived in a particular moment in the history of painting, as in the first half of the 19th century many synthetic pigments were available, also in tin tubes, but traditional materials were still used. Sixteen paintings on canvas and on panels, created between 1823 and 1868, were analyzed in situ through non-invasive techniques (infrared reflectography and infrared reflection spectroscopy). Imaging investigation provided clues on painting technique, revealing some cases of pentimenti and underdrawings. A preliminary survey was carried out on a hundred pure pigments used up to the 19th century and on new synthetic colours, in order to attain reference spectra for the interpretation of painting spectra. The portable infrared instrument provided insight into Hayez's painting materials, identifying barite, ivory black, lead-tin yellow, Naples yellow, ochres, Prussian blue, and white lead. The pigments were often blended, to obtain a unique fabric appearance or to attain cold shades. The results pointed to a siccative oil as a binder, mixed with white lead so that it could act as a catalyzer in polymerization reactions, and in some cases with a proteinaceous binder and resins. The preparation was made with gypsum and white lead mixed with a siccative oil. The results showed that the artist used a typical traditional palette, throughout his career, in order to lead to brilliant colours and with long-term stability. Anyway, the possible presence of cobalt blue in a few paintings suggests that Hayez had probably started testing the new colours, since the second decade of 19th century.

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Section: Infrared Reflection Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez

Rampazzi

Brunello

Corti

et al. 2017

Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectros

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“…This indicates, just as for the museum samples, that an important difference in the degree of incineration exists between the bones. This is caused by the heat absorption of the limestone during incineration (Van Strydonck et al 2013). Visual inspection of the bones corroborates the important difference in degree of incineration ( Figure 4).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

¹⁴C Dating and Material Analysis of the Lime Burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain)

Mulder

Hayen²,

Boudin³

et al. 2014

Radiocarbon

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Lime burials are a characteristic phenomenon of the protohistoric funerary tradition on the Balearic Islands. At Cova de Na Dent, a lime burial has been sampled for analysis. The lime burial was made up of lime and fragmented bones. Six layers were sampled and described in the laboratory according to their color, the consistency of the deposition, and the aspect and quantity of the bone fragments. Bone samples and lime were dated. The lime was analyzed by using petrographic analysis, X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, and simultaneous thermal analysis. The results show that the bones were cremated in the presence of crushed rock carbonate. The 14 C dates on the lime suggest an earlier chronology for this ritual, starting in the Bronze Age, as generally is accepted.

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“…Our results emphasise the importance of having detailed knowledge on the background of osteological collections of human remains used for experimental studies, since factors such as these might have severe effect on the condition and preservation of human remains and therefore can significantly affect research results. This also holds for premodern collections, since, for example, quicklime is known to have been used to cover burials in the past and has demonstrated to affect putrefaction time (Schotsmans et al 2012(Schotsmans et al , 2014Van Strydonck et al 2015). The effect of such practices on bioerosion should therefore carefully be considered as well investigated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burned Fleshed or Dry? The Potential of Bioerosion to Determine the Pre-Burning Condition of Human Remains

Lemmers

Gonçalves

Cunha

et al. 2020

J Archaeol Method Theory

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The practice of cremation is often interpreted as an alternative to inhumation, taking place shortly after an individual's death. However, cremation could be a final stage in complex mortuary practices, with previous steps that are obscured due to the heating process. This project reports on experimental scoping research on a set of experimentally heated femoral fragments from modern and archaeological collections of the University of Coimbra. Sixteen recent femur samples from eight individuals, as well as five femur samples from an archaeological skeleton from the medieval-modern cemetery found at the Hospital de Santo António (Porto), were included in this research. Samples presented five different conditions: unburnt, and burnt at maximum temperatures of 300°C, 500°C, 700°C and 900°C. Each sample was prepared to allow observation using binocular transmitted light microscopes with ×10, ×25 and ×40 magnifications. Results indicated that, if burial led to bioerosion, this will remain visible despite burning, as could be in cases where cremation was used as a funerary practice following inhumation. From this, we conclude that the observation of bioerosion lesions in histological thin sections of cremated bone can be used to interpret potential pre-cremation treatment of the body, with application possibilities for both archaeological and forensic contexts. However, the effect on bioerosion of substances such as bacterial-or enzymatic-based products often used to accelerate decomposition should be investigated.

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The Protohistoric ‘Quicklime Burials’ from the Balearic Islands: Cremation or Inhumation

Cited by 24 publications

References 31 publications

Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez

Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez

¹⁴C Dating and Material Analysis of the Lime Burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain)

Burned Fleshed or Dry? The Potential of Bioerosion to Determine the Pre-Burning Condition of Human Remains

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The Protohistoric ‘Quicklime Burials’ from the Balearic Islands: Cremation or Inhumation

Cited by 24 publications

References 31 publications

Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez

Non-invasive techniques for revealing the palette of the Romantic painter Francesco Hayez

14C Dating and Material Analysis of the Lime Burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain)

Burned Fleshed or Dry? The Potential of Bioerosion to Determine the Pre-Burning Condition of Human Remains

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¹⁴C Dating and Material Analysis of the Lime Burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain)