Claire SmithEditor

Encyclopedia ofGlobal Archaeology

With 2619 Figures and 106 Tables

EditorClaire SmithDepartment of ArchaeologyFlinders UniversityAdelaide, SAAustralia

ISBN 978-1-4419-0426-3 ISBN 978-1-4419-0465-2 (eBook)ISBN 978-1-4419-0466-9 (print and electronic bundle)DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013953915

# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole orpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse ofillustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way,and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software,or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from thislegal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or materialsupplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, forexclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof ispermitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in itscurrent version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions foruse may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liableto prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in thispublication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names areexempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date ofpublication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legalresponsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty,express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

has suffered through the ages, there was suffi-

cient bone to radiocarbon-date the whole

sequence, from 580 to 1,050, and align it with

the typological dates of the rich grave goods

from the famous ship burial.

Cross-References

▶Excavation Methods in Archaeology

References

CARVER, M. 2005. Sutton Hoo. A seventh-century princelyburial ground and its context. London: British

Museum Press.

- 2009. Archaeological investigation. London: Taylor &Francis.

GLOB, P.V. 1969. The bog people. London: Faber &

Faber.

WILLIAMS, H. 2006. Death and memory in earlymedieval Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Further ReadingLUCY, S. 2000. The Anglo-Saxon way of death. Stroud:

Sutton Publishing.

Burial Mound Dissection in Sweden

Per H. Ramqvist

Department of Historical, Philosophical and

Religious Studies, Umea University, Umea,

Sweden

Introduction

In 1949, it was decided to excavate the first of the

four Migration Period large mounds in Hogom at

a cemetery a few kilometers west of Sundsvall

in the county of Medelpad, North Sweden. Con-

centrations of large mounds (>20 m in diameter)

in Scandinavia are known at Old Uppsala in

Uppland, Bertnem in Trøndelag, and Borre and

Snartemo. Often arranged in rows, these are

high status burials representing generations of

regional leadership. The four mounds in Hogom

(“mounds”) Medelpad north Sweden clearly

belonged to this exclusive group. When investi-

gations began in 1949, the site had been largely

forgotten and was encumbered by houses, barns

and cellars, driveways and threshing places.

The National Heritage Board decided to pur-

chase the area, remove the buildings, and restore

CHEMICAL ENHANCEMENT

ba

(Preliminary assessment using above-average readings)

LaAI Suggested position of body

Bucket or cauldron

Burial chamber walls as excavated

0 1 m

Sr

PBa

Indicative ofbone residue

CuFe

Burial Excavation, Anglo-Saxon, Fig. 6 Chemical mapping of the floor of a robbed chamber

B 1056 Burial Mound Dissection in Sweden

a cultural landscape around the cemetery.

But before restoration, it was decided to

investigate the most damaged of the burial

mounds (No. 2). The project was one of excep-

tional innovation.

Key Issues/Current Debates/FutureDirections/Examples

The mound was 40-m across and at least 4-m

high, and in accordance with the excavation

methods of the late 1940s, it was initially inves-

tigated with a trench. This was placed on the NE

side of the mound on the site of a demolished

building. Beneath the topsoil, the excavators

encountered a stone cairn, which was then

exposed in its entirety (Fig. 1). It proved to be

20m across, and seen from a tower was clearly no

random heap, but the stones had been deliberately

sorted by size. To record this information, the

whole cairn was carefully planned, stone by

stone.

While the stones were being removed, it

became apparent that there was a central burial

chamber measuring 5� 2 m in plan that had been

constructed in timber. It had been compressed by

the weight of the mound into a compact layer

10-cm thick containing all the wood, the body,

and the objects, some of which showed through

the matt surface of the compressed wooden roof

(Fig. 2). Attempts to excavate the chamber in situ

were frustrated by the hardness of the wooden

layer; more forceful digging threatened to destroy

the objects.

Inspired by the successful lifting of a whale

jawbone during the excavation of a Stone Age

settlement in Bohuslan (western Sweden) in

1935, it was decided to try and lift the whole

chamber in order to excavate it in the laboratory.

This much more challenging project was

achieved by engineers from the construction

firm, Hallstrom & Nisses of Sundsvall. To

provide access, a wide and deep trench was dug

around the chamber, making an archaeological

record of the layers disturbed. The chamber

Burial Mound Dissectionin Sweden,Fig. 1 Dagmar Selling,

excavator (with Sverker

Janson) of Hogom Mound

2, working on the central

cairn (Ramqvist 1992,

Fig 17a)

Burial Mound Dissection in Sweden 1057 B

B

proved to be resting on silty deposits without

a wooden floor. The engineers then built

a wooden box around the chamber and drove

steel pipes beneath it, with horizontal steel plates

jacked into position above them to create a base

for the chamber deposit (Fig. 3). The wooden box

was infilled with plaster to prevent movement of

the deposit and the whole encased in a steel

frame. It was then lifted and transported to the

National Historical Museum in Stockholm.

Burial Mound Dissectionin Sweden, Fig. 2 Metal

buttons on the leggings of

the buried person showing

in the compressed roof

of the chamber

(Ramqvist 1992, Fig 24)

Burial Mound Dissectionin Sweden, Fig. 3 Metal

plates being driven beneath

the chamber with jacks

(Ramqvist 1992, Fig 25)

B 1058 Burial Mound Dissection in Sweden

When unloading the box in Stockholm

(Fig. 4), it was turned completely upside-down,

so that the continuing investigation could take

place “from below,” with the impenetrable roof

now as the base. Before excavation in the labo-

ratory, the entire deposit was X-rayed,

producing a set of plates at 1:1 which proved to

be an invaluable guide to the indoor excavators

(Fig. 5). The burial was excavated in minute

detail. Dating to c. 500 CE, it is known as

one of the richest and best excavated in the

Baltic area.

Burial Mound Dissectionin Sweden, Fig. 4 The

encased burial chamber is

unloaded outside the

laboratory in Stockholm

Burial Mound Dissectionin Sweden, Fig. 5 The set

of X-ray plates from the

eastern part of the chamber

showing the bridle and

cauldron in position in the

laboratory (Ramqvist 1992,

Fig 28b).

Burial Mound Dissection in Sweden 1059 B

B

In 1984, the site was surveyed in detail and the

previously unexcavated perimeter around the

cairn was examined, revealing large postholes

of a building erected before the mound, probably

a three-aisled long house. The whole site was

eventually published by Ramqvist (1992).

Cross-References

▶Archaeological Record

▶Excavation Methods in Archaeology

▶ Scandinavia/Northern Europe: Historical

Archaeology

▶ Scandinavia: Field Methods

▶Trade and Transport in the Ancient

Mediterranean

References

RAMQVIST, P. H. 1992. Hogom. Part 1. The excavations1949-1984 (Archaeology and Environment 13).

Umea: Umea University.

Burial Practices and Tombs in theRoman World

Tracy Prowse

Department of Anthropology, McMaster

University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

Introduction

Understanding the rituals associated with death

and burial can help reveal a past society’s atti-

tudes toward death and beliefs about the afterlife.

Information concerning burial practices and com-

memoration in the Roman world is derived from

ancient literary sources written by elite male

members of Roman society, often about the

funerary practices of aristocrats from the city of

Rome. The archaeological record also provides

invaluable information on burial practices, but

only a small percentage of burials have survived

intact from the Roman period and are

overrepresented by monumental tombs that

belonged to a small elite segment of Roman soci-

ety. Through the integration of different lines of

evidence, general patterns can be discerned, but it

is important to emphasize that there was not one

universal “Roman” way of burying the dead

throughout the Roman world and that these prac-

tices varied both geographically and temporally.

Definition

The term “burial” refers to the act of placing the

deceased in the ground and can also indicate the

location where the deceased is interred, which is

often used interchangeably with “grave.” “Burial

practices” refer to the activities surrounding the

preparation of the deceased for burial and depo-

sition of the remains in the ground or in some type

of burial structure. A “tomb” can be used to refer

to the general location where the deceased is

buried, but more commonly it is used to describe

a freestanding architectural structure that is used

to house the dead.

Key Issues

Death Pollution

A number of factors influenced the treatment and

burial of the dead in ancient Rome. The wide-

spread belief in death pollution, both spiritual and

physical, meant that rituals were required to sep-

arate the deceased from the living and to cleanse

the survivors of any contamination associated

with death (Toynbee 1971; Lindsay 2000). Atti-

tudes toward the dead were also influenced by the

belief that some part of the individual continued

to exist after death and could have an impact on

the living, so appropriate burial practices were

required to guarantee a smooth transition into the

afterlife. A “proper” burial ensured that the

deceased made this transition successfully,

made certain that deceased spirits were not rest-

less, and helped to reintegrate the survivors back

into society (Hope 2000).

The period of mourning, known as the feriae

denicales, began with the death of the individual

B 1060 Burial Practices and Tombs in the Roman World