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Death and continuity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Alexander Gramsch
Alexander Gramsch*
Affiliation:
Schönhauser Allee 143, 10435-Berlin, Germany
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Abstract

This article suggests that the common appearance of cultural (‘midden’) material under barrows of the Trichterbecher culture is interpreted as the purposeful metaphor of continuity of the small-scale society that has just suffered the loss of one or more of its actors. The three stages of rites de passage as outlined by van Gennep are used to explain the mortuary rituals further. Separation was signified by the enclosure (ditch or palisade) around the future barrow site and a ‘facade’. The liminal stage may be marked archaeologically by the ‘cleansing’ of fire or dismantling of facades at the barrow entrance, and sometimes by ploughing, which destroyed the cultural material on the site. Reintegration was the ‘planting’ of the deceased under soil and the erection of the barrow. The paper concludes with implications for the growth of a lineage organisation of society.

Dieser Aufsatz argumentiert, daß das gewöhnliche Auftreten von kulturellem ‘Abfall’ unter Grabhügeln der Trichterbecherkultur als bezweckte Metaphor für Kontinuität einer kleinen Gesellschaft diente, die gerade den Verlust von einem, einer oder mehreren ihrer Mitglieder(innen) erlitten hat. Die drei Stufen der ‘rites de passage’ (Übergangsriten, nach van Gennep) werden zur weiteren Erklärung des Begräbnisrituals herangezogen. Trennung wurde angezeigt durch die Einfassung (Graben oder Palisade) des späteren Grabhügels und die Fassaden. Die Übergangsstufe mag sich archäologisch durch das ‘Säubern’ des Feuers oder das Abbrechen der Fassaden am Eingang der Grabhügels andeuten, und manchmal durch Bepflügen, wodurch alles kulturelle Material an dieser Stelle zerstört wurde. Die Wiedereingliederung war das ‘Unter-die-Erde-bringen’ des oder der Verstorbenen und die Aufschüttung des Grabhügels. Der Beitrag schließt ab mit Implikationen für eine Zunahme von Gesellschaften, die nach ‘lineages’ organisiert sind.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of European Archaeology , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 1995 , pp. 71 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 

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