Uncategorized – Grave Reopening Research

Grave reopening and the new Handbook of Archaeothanatology

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022Astrid Noterman

Recently published in the Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology, a paper written by Edeltraud Aspöck, Astrid A. Noterman et Karina Gerdau-Radonić on the use of archaeothanatology methodology in the study of ancient reopened and robbed graves in western Europe and present-day Peru.

The contribution is divided into 3 chapters. This first one introduces the taphonomic characteristics of reopened individual inhumations typically found in two archaeological periods with large-scale grave reopening for object removal: the central European Early Bronze Age and the European Early Medieval periods. Of particular interest in this chapter is the micro-archaeological study of a reopened Early Bronze Age inhumation grave from Austria, with the archaeothanatological approach extended to the disturbed parts of the skeletons to achieve a detailed perspective of the treatment of the human remains when the grave was reopened. The second chapter presents examples from the archaeothanatological analysis of graves from early medieval cemeteries from eastern France and shows how taphonomic observations provide information on the relative timing of an intrusion, the type of artefacts removed and on the funerary practices of the period. Finally, the analysis of a disturbed deposit from Central Peru (Pachacamac, Lima) in a final chapter highlights the differences between a destructive looting episode and ritualistic grave reopenings.

Aspöck E., Gerdau-Radonić K. and Noterman A. A. (2022) – ‘ Reopening graves for THE removal of objects and bones: cultural practices and looting’, in Knüsel C. J. & Schotsmans E. M. J. (Eds), The Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology. Bioarchaeology of Mortuary Behaviour, Routledge, London.

Project publications

November 19, 2021Alison Klevnäs

This week Alison Klevnäs and Astrid Noterman gave a research seminar in the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at Stockholm University to mark the end of our project ‘Interacting with the Dead’ which we’re finishing this calendar year. We talked through some of our published and accepted books and papers. Here’s a list of the finished ones we talked about. Some are generally applicable discussions of the information value of disturbed burials and the use of archaeothanatological methods for their analysis. Others are explorations of the evidence for secondary interactions with inhumation graves in the specific context of early medieval Europe, aimed at difference audiences. Most are still ‘in press’, but should be out in the next few months. Then there are a few more which are still under construction – we’ll post when they’re on their way.

Archaeothanatology and textile research

November 18, 2021November 18, 2021Alison Klevnäs

Last month Astrid Noterman and Alison Klevnäs gave a talk as part of a workshop at the Centre for Textile Research in the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen. This was organised by Liv Nilsson Stutz for the Sweden+ archaeothanatology working group and our travel was funded by a grant from Linnaeus University. We spoke about ways in which disturbed graves can actually be more informative than ones which are intact contexts. It was a very stimulating afternoon with fascinating presentations and informed discussion. Many thanks to Eva Andersson Strand and colleagues for a warm welcome and kind hospitality!

Read all about it

June 21, 2021July 16, 2021Alison Klevnäs

We’re very pleased – ok flabbergasted – to see so much media interest in our new Open Access paper in the journal Antiquity on the phenomenon of grave reopening in early medieval Europe. The paper brings together results from studies by all five authors, plus some wider perspectives from the history of research and more recent work. We show the geographical and chronological extent of the phenomenon, discuss the nature of the practices, and argue that however counterintuitively, reopening now needs to be considered part of the broad customary treatment of the dead in the period.

As Heinrich Härke comments in the livescience.com coverage, while some of the discoveries have been reported previously in journals or books, “What is new in this article… is the coherent attempt to pull the western and central European evidence on ‘grave opening’ together, present it as a European-wide phenomenon of the 6th/7th centuries A.D., and offer some possible interpretations”. We don’t actually get very far into interpretations in this short paper, but as you can see in the press coverage below, we’ve been asked a lot about what possible meanings the reopening practices might have had for those carrying them out and I have tried to give some answers along the lines the authors have variously previously published or are developing.

It’s great to see how much public interest there is in results from an archaeological study of this kind. This wasn’t a spectacular ‘new find’ story. It’s about many years (decades!) of research into a complex phenomenon which raises as many questions as it answers. There’s no familiar ‘Viking’ tag to pin on this. What’s the recognition value of the Merovingian kingdoms? Reihengräberfelder? Lombardic cemeteries (well, cemeteries traditionally but dubiously attributed to so-called Lombards) in Lower Austria and Hungary? The many journalists who’ve contacted us with follow-up questions have had a uphill slog to get clear descriptions of the period and material we’ve been studying, let alone why it’s exciting.

But the human past in all its complexity and strangeness is of huge popular interest – which is why the threats to archaeological research especially in the UK at the moment are so disheartening. It has just been announced that Archaeology and Heritage at the University of Chester is now safe from redundancies, but the world-renowned Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield is under threat of closure by university management.

Here’s a list of some of the coverage we’ve seen for this paper. Very many thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in our work and helped to get the word out.

/Alison

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2281538-europeans-used-to-open-their-relatives-graves-to-recover-heirlooms/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01695-4

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/17/world/medieval-graves-study-scli-intl-scn/index.html

https://www.dn.se/vetenskap/karin-bojs-att-hylla-de-doda-ar-typiskt-oss/

https://fof.se/artikel/plundrade-gravar-hade-vittjats-av-efterlevande

https://www.livescience.com/medieval-graves-reopened.html

https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/archeo-paleo/archeologie/ouvrir-une-tombe-ne-rime-pas-toujours-avec-pillage-au-haut-moyen-age_155328

https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/saqueadores-investigan-el-misterio-de-las-tumbas-reabiertas-hace-1400-anos-nid22062021/

https://www.spektrum.de/news/trauerriten-graboeffnungen-waren-mittelalterlicher-standard/1886359

https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/in-medieval-europe-the-dead-and-buried-werent-left-to-rest/

https://www.fr24news.com/fr/a/2021/06/les-europeens-medievaux-ont-regulierement-rouvert-des-tombes-et-non-pour-les-voler.html