Funerary Practices of the British Beaker Peoples: An Osteo-Archaeological Assessment of Individuals
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: History and Cultures
Abstract
The cultural transformations that accompanied the spread of the 'Beaker complex' across western Europe in the mid-3rd millennium BC have been central to narratives of long-term change in European prehistory, and continue to attract intense debates concerning their origins, diffusion and character (Vander Linden 2013). Beaker culture evidence has been studied from a range of perspectives with varying regional emphases, but a common thread is the significance of mortuary data for exploring social categories, ritual and demography (e.g. Fitzpatrick 2011). Recent scientific advances in isotopic and genetic analyses have refocused attention on migration as a way to explain the 'Beaker phenomenon' (Olalde et al. 2018; Parker Pearson et al. 2019; Armit & Reich 2021).
This project will significantly advance our understanding of Beaker mortuary practices by answering key questions relating to body treatment and taphonomy. The British evidence is ideal for this purpose due to well-established frameworks of study (e.g. Clarke 1970; Allen et al. (eds.) 2012), 40 years' of well resourced commercial excavations, and recent large-scale radiocarbon dating and isotopic research (Parker Pearson et al. 2019). The British Beaker funerary tradition is also exceptional for its longevity (c.2450-1850 BC: ibid.; Needham 2005) and the prominence of mortuary practices in Beaker social lives, highlighted recently by recognition of widespread post-mortem body manipulation, including
disarticulation (Booth & Bruck 2020), excarnation (Booth et al. 2020), and mummification (Pearson et al. 2005; Booth et al. 2015).
To gain insight into the social customs of the Beaker tradition, this M4C proposal aims to determine:
(i) social treatments based on age or sex;
(ii) the prevalence and types of post-mortem treatments in an unstudied population;
(iii) applicability of Micro-CT (MCT) during the investigation of rare/fragile materials.
To determine the character and extent of post-mortem manipulation of Beaker bodies, at least 40 individuals will be subject to intensive osteological, contextual and histotaphonomic analysis. This will involve comparative study of: (i) depositional data in publications and site records; (ii) biometric data (age, sex, trauma) derived from examinations of skeletal material; (iii) quantification of micro-diagenetic data based on MCT scans of bone samples, using the Oxford Histological Index (Hedges et al. 1995) to establish body intactness and decompositional processes (White & Booth 2014). The samples are housed in numerous museums and commercial archaeology archives, access to some of which has already been
approved by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Trust for Thanet Archaeology and Wessex Archaeology.
This project will have major impacts in two areas of research. (1) This is the first large-scale MCT-based study of Beaker burials in Europe, and the largest diagenetic assessment of a British Early Bronze Age mortuary population. The results of this work will provide a new basis for clarifying forms and frequency of post-mortem manipulation and its significance for understanding Beaker mortuary ritual and conceptions of the body. (2) The findings of the study will also contribute to our understanding of microdiagenesis in ancient human bone more generally, and the methodological and interpretative challenges of using MicroCT scanning for both bioarchaeological and forensic specialists.
This project will significantly advance our understanding of Beaker mortuary practices by answering key questions relating to body treatment and taphonomy. The British evidence is ideal for this purpose due to well-established frameworks of study (e.g. Clarke 1970; Allen et al. (eds.) 2012), 40 years' of well resourced commercial excavations, and recent large-scale radiocarbon dating and isotopic research (Parker Pearson et al. 2019). The British Beaker funerary tradition is also exceptional for its longevity (c.2450-1850 BC: ibid.; Needham 2005) and the prominence of mortuary practices in Beaker social lives, highlighted recently by recognition of widespread post-mortem body manipulation, including
disarticulation (Booth & Bruck 2020), excarnation (Booth et al. 2020), and mummification (Pearson et al. 2005; Booth et al. 2015).
To gain insight into the social customs of the Beaker tradition, this M4C proposal aims to determine:
(i) social treatments based on age or sex;
(ii) the prevalence and types of post-mortem treatments in an unstudied population;
(iii) applicability of Micro-CT (MCT) during the investigation of rare/fragile materials.
To determine the character and extent of post-mortem manipulation of Beaker bodies, at least 40 individuals will be subject to intensive osteological, contextual and histotaphonomic analysis. This will involve comparative study of: (i) depositional data in publications and site records; (ii) biometric data (age, sex, trauma) derived from examinations of skeletal material; (iii) quantification of micro-diagenetic data based on MCT scans of bone samples, using the Oxford Histological Index (Hedges et al. 1995) to establish body intactness and decompositional processes (White & Booth 2014). The samples are housed in numerous museums and commercial archaeology archives, access to some of which has already been
approved by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Trust for Thanet Archaeology and Wessex Archaeology.
This project will have major impacts in two areas of research. (1) This is the first large-scale MCT-based study of Beaker burials in Europe, and the largest diagenetic assessment of a British Early Bronze Age mortuary population. The results of this work will provide a new basis for clarifying forms and frequency of post-mortem manipulation and its significance for understanding Beaker mortuary ritual and conceptions of the body. (2) The findings of the study will also contribute to our understanding of microdiagenesis in ancient human bone more generally, and the methodological and interpretative challenges of using MicroCT scanning for both bioarchaeological and forensic specialists.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Haley Goren (Student) |