February 2015 – Grave Reopening Research

Dutch conference on mortuary archaeology

February 25, 2015February 25, 2015Martine van Haperen

The Dutch foundation Archaeological Dialogues in cooperation with the medieval chair group at Leiden University are organizing a small symposium on the interaction between theory and methodology in archaeological mortuary studies, followed by a two day conference on early medieval cemetery archaeology in the Low Countries. The conference will take place at Leiden University on April 22nd to 24th 2015.

The first day will consist of papers the techniques and standards for excavation and publication; the use of scientific analyses on grave remains; and the potential added value of ethnographic examples and anthropological theory for archaeological mortuary studies.

The two consecutive days will focus specifically on early medieval cemetery archaeology in the Netherlands and Belgium, and will include a lecture by Martine van Haperen on reopened graves from the Low Countries.

For more details, please see the program and registration form on the foundation’s website. The registration deadline is April 3rd.

Vendel: new paper on the disturbance of the famous boat-grave cemetery in central Sweden

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015Alison Klevnäs

Klevnäs, A. 2015. Abandon Ship! Digging out the Dead from the Vendel Boat-Graves. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 48(1), 1-20.

Abstract:

The boat-grave cemetery at Vendel, Uppland, is one of the iconic sites of first-millennium Sweden. The high-status grave-goods and weaponry have been widely displayed and studied since their discovery over 130 years ago. Yet it is rarely mentioned that the burial ground had been almost completely ransacked long before archaeologists stepped in. The celebrated finds are only a fraction of the wealth that was originally buried at the site.

This is the first evaluation of the evidence of disturbance from Vendel since the excavations in the late 19th century. The ancient re-opening of the graves is reconstructed through the letters and diaries of the excavator, Hjalmar Stolpe, as well as the various preliminary and final reports. Evidence is presented that the main parts of the burials, notably the human bones, were systematically dug out of nearly every grave and removed from the site. The reopening probably took place during the Christianization period, before or during the construction of the nearby church in the 13th century. This is an example of the widespread reworking of monuments at this time, specifically highlighting the significance accorded to buried human remains.

Not so new any more, but never posted: my excavation of an early Bronze Age reopened grave in eastern Austria

February 13, 2015August 25, 2015Edeltraud Aspöck

As part of my post-doc project on ‘the microtaphonomy of reopened graves’ (at the OREA Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences) I excavated a reopened grave from the early Bronze Age period (so-called Wieselburg Culture) in eastern Austria to investigate what we can learn about reopened graves if we focus on the evidence of the reopening.

For the excavation and analysis I use a multi-dimensional approach: single-finds recording (collaborating with our research group Quaternary Archaeology), sedimentanalysis, micromorphology, archaeothanatology.

Excavations took about 2 months because – lucky me – the grave was particularly deep and contained two inhumations: a first body was buried in a coffin at the bottom of the grave pit, then the grave was reopened and a second body was placed on top. The photo shows the remains of the bottom burial which was reopened. The boxes are Kubiena tins for micromorphological soil samples. Analysis is still ongoing.

Grave reopening EAA Glasgow 2015 – a follow up by Nils Müller-Scheessel to ‘our session’ in Oslo!

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015Edeltraud Aspöck

The session by Nils Müller-Scheessel and Matej Ruttkay at EAA Glasgow is a follow up of our 2012 EAA session in Oslo and the focus is on taphonomy – so I am going to present results from my post-doc project – anyone else from the group thinking to attend?
http://eaaglasgow2015.com/session/grave-disturbances-the-secondary-manipulation-of-burials/

Reconstruction drawings from Anglo-Saxon Kent

February 2, 2015February 2, 2015Alison Klevnäs

The Trust for Thanet Archaeology in Kent, south-east England, has published some fantastic reconstruction drawings of grave robbery in the early medieval cemetery at Lord of the Manor, Ozengell.