Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:10:01.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bronze Age ‘Barrows’ and Funerary Rites and Rituals of Cremation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Jacqueline I. McKinley
Jacqueline I. McKinley
Affiliation:
Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6EB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper discusses the evidence for pyre sites, debris, and technology associated with the disposal of cremated human remains in Bronze Age ‘barrows’. The use of the terms such as ‘cremation’, ‘cremation burial’, and ‘cremation-related feature’ are examined. The types of evidence for the remains of cremation-related activities which survive on archaeological sites are described with examples and compared with the results of modern experimental data. It is concluded that a wealth of information may be recovered in relation to the funerary rites and rituals of cremation and that Bronze Age barrows hold a potentially unique position in being able to provide evidence of various aspects of the funerary activity under one ‘mound’. While the archaeological components within different types of cremation-related features are often the same, it is the relationship between the various components within the deposit which have the potential to assist in our understanding of aspects of procedure, rites, and rituals attendant on the disposal of the dead by means of cremation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 63 , 1997 , pp. 129 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, C.S.M., Harman, M., and Wheeler, H. 1987. Bronze Age cremation cemeteries in the East Midlands. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 53, 187–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beek van, G.C. 1983. Dental Morphology: an illustrated guide. London: Wright. PSG.Google Scholar
Bass, W.M. 1987. Human Osteology. Missouri: Archeological Society.Google Scholar
Binford, L.R. 1963. An analysis of cremations from three Michigan sites. Wisconsin Archaeologist 44, 98–110.Google Scholar
Brooks, S.T. 1955. Skeletal age at death: the reliability of cranial and pubic age indicators. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 13, 567–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brothwell, D.R. 1972. Digging up Bone. London: British Museum, Natural History.Google Scholar
Cosack, E. 1983. Das sachsische Graberfeld bei Liebenau Teil. 1. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag.Google Scholar
Downes, J. 1995. Linga Fold, Sandwick, Orkney; Excavation of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery 1994. Glasgow: GUARD 59.Google Scholar
Drewett, P.L. 1970. The excavation of two round barrows and associated fieldwork on Ashey Down, Isle of White. Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society 27, 33–50.Google Scholar
Dubois, J.A. & Beauchamp, H.R. 1943. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gejvall, N.G. 1969. Cremation. In Brothwell, D. & Higgs, E. (eds), Science and Archaeology, 468–79. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Gejvall, N.G. 1981. Determination of burnt bones from prehistoric graves. OSSA Letters 2, 1–13.Google Scholar
Gray, H. 1977. Anatomy. New York: Bounty.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L.V. 1931. The Ancient Burial-Mounds of England. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L.V. 1941. The Bronze Age round barrows of Wessex. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 7(3), 73–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazzledine, M. 1982. Report on the cremations from the sites. In White, D., The Bronze Age Cremation Cemeteries at Simons Ground Dorset. 24–6. Dorchester: Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society Monograph 3.Google Scholar
Hiatt, B. 1969. Cremation in Aboriginal Australia. Mankind 7(2), 104–15.Google Scholar
Holck, P. 1986. Cremated Bones: a medical-anthropological study of an archaeological material on cremation burials. Oslo: University of Oslo, Anthropologiske Skrifter 1.Google Scholar
Homer, (1951 trans. Lattimore, R.). The Iliad. Chicago: University Press.Google Scholar
Homer, (1972 trans. Rieu, E.V.). The Odyssey. Harlow: Penguin.Google Scholar
Lange, M., Schutkowski, H., Hummel, S. & Herrmann, B. 1987. A Bibliography on Cremations. Strasborg: PACT.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1989. Cremations: expectations, methodologies and realities. In Roberts, C.A.Lee, F. & Bintliff, J. (eds), Burial Archaeology: current research, methods and developments. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 211, 65–76.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1991a. Purton; the human remains. Unpublished report for Thamesdown Archaeology.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1991b. Cremated bone from the Area 15 cemetery, Baldock Hertfordshire. Unpublished report for Letchworth Museum.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1992a. Cremated human bone. In Smith, R.J.C.Rawlings, M.N. & Barnes, I.. Excavations of Coburg Road and Weymouth Road, Fordington, Dorchester, Dorset 1988–9. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeology Society 114, 39–41.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1992b. Cremated human bone from Lairg, Sutherland. Unpublished report for AOC Scotland.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1993a. Bone fragment size and weights of bone from modern British cremations and its implications for the interpretation of archaeological cremations. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 3, 283–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1993b. A Bronze Age cremation burial from Guiting Power III Gloucestershire. Unpublished report for Guiting Power Amenities Trust.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1993c. The Bronze Age cremation burial. In Field, N. & Leahy, K.. Prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon remains at Nettleton Top Nettleton. Lincolnshire History & Archaeology 28, 19–20.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1993d. Cremated bone. In J. Timby. Sancton I Anglo-Saxon cemetery excavations carried out between 1976 and 1980. Archaeological Journal 150, 243–365.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1994a. The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Spong Hill, North Elmham Part VIII: the cremations. East Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 69.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1994b. Pyre and grave goods in British cremations: have we missed something? Antiquity 68, 132–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1994c. Bone fragment size in British cremation burials and its implications for pyre technology and ritual. Journal of Archaeological Science 21, 339–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1995a. The cremated human bone from Eggardon Dorset. Unpublished report for Bournemouth University.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1995b. The cremated human bone from Wincle Cheshire. Unpublished report for Keele University.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1995c. The cremated human bone from Horse Pastures, Beetly Derbyshire. Unpublished report for Peak Trust Archaeology.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1996a. Linga Fold, Sandwick, Orkney: human bone report with discussion of pyre technology and ritual. Unpublished report for GUARD.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1996b. Cremated human bone. In Andrews, P.. Hurst Park, East Molesey, Surrey: riverside settlement and burial from the Neolithic to the Early Saxon period. In Andrews, P. & Crockett, A.. Three Excavations Along the Thames and its Tributaries, 1994, 92–5. Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology Report 10.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1996c. Langstone Harbour: cremated human bone. Unpublished report for Wessex Archaeology.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1997a. Pyre technology and ritual. In Fitzpatrick, A.P.. Archaeological Excavations on the Route of the A27 Westhampnett Bypass, West Sussex. Volume 2: The Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries, 65–6. Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology Report 12.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 1997b. The cremated remains from Trelwothas Barrow, Probus Cornwall. Unpublished report for Cornwall Archaeological Unit.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. in press a. Human bone and funerary deposits. In Walker, K.E. in press.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. in press b. Putting cremated human remains in context. In Roskams, S. (ed.), Interpreting Stratigraphy 7.Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. forthcoming. The cremated human bone. In Fitzpatrick, A.P. & Allen, M.J.. Archaeological Excavations along the Route of the Westhampnett Bypass, West Sussex, 1992. Volume 1: The Prehistoric to Romano-British Landscapes. Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology Reports.Google Scholar
McMinn, R.M.H. & Hutchings, R.T. 1985. A Colour Atlas of Human Anatomy. London: Wolfe Medical Publications.Google Scholar
Nicholls, J. 1987. Two Bronze Age urns from Portsdown. Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society 43, 15–20.Google Scholar
Schama, S. 1987. The Embarrassment of Riches. London: Fontana Press.Google Scholar
Sjösvärd, L, Vertemark, M. & Gustavson, H. 1983. A Vendel warrior from Vallentuna. In Lamm, J.P. & Nordström, H.-Å. (eds), Vendel Period Studies 2, 133–42. Stockholm: National Antiquities.Google Scholar
Spence, T.F. 1967. The anatomical study of cremated bone from archaeological sites. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 33, 70–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vark, G.N. van 1975. Human cremated skeletal material by multivariate statistics. Method II. OSSA 2(1), 47–68.Google Scholar
Walker, K.E. in press. M3 Bar End to Compton: Archaeological Investigations on Twyford Down. Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Monograph.Google Scholar
Webb, P.A.O. & Suchey, J.M. 1985. Epiphyseal union of the anterior iliac crest and medial clavicle in a modern multiracial sample of American males and females. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68. 457–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, C. 1960. A study of cremation. Antiquity 34, 29–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, L. 1980. Problems of analysis and interpretation of skeletal remains. In Rahtz, P.Dickinson, T. & Watts, L. (eds), Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries 1979; fourth Anglo-Saxon Symposium at Oxford, 221–31. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 82.Google Scholar