Cargando…

More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials

Burial rites of archaeological populations are frequently interpreted based on cremated remains of the human body and the urn they were deposited in. In comparison to inhumations, information about the deceased is much more limited and dependent on fragmentation, selection of body regions, taphonomi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Waltenberger, Lukas, Bosch, Marjolein D., Fritzl, Michaela, Gahleitner, André, Kurzmann, Christoph, Piniel, Maximilian, Salisbury, Roderick B., Strnad, Ladislav, Skerjanz, Hannah, Verdianu, Domnika, Snoeck, Christophe, Kanz, Fabian, Rebay-Salisbury, Katharina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10468036/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37647251
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289140
_version_ 1785099156943011840
author Waltenberger, Lukas
Bosch, Marjolein D.
Fritzl, Michaela
Gahleitner, André
Kurzmann, Christoph
Piniel, Maximilian
Salisbury, Roderick B.
Strnad, Ladislav
Skerjanz, Hannah
Verdianu, Domnika
Snoeck, Christophe
Kanz, Fabian
Rebay-Salisbury, Katharina
author_facet Waltenberger, Lukas
Bosch, Marjolein D.
Fritzl, Michaela
Gahleitner, André
Kurzmann, Christoph
Piniel, Maximilian
Salisbury, Roderick B.
Strnad, Ladislav
Skerjanz, Hannah
Verdianu, Domnika
Snoeck, Christophe
Kanz, Fabian
Rebay-Salisbury, Katharina
author_sort Waltenberger, Lukas
collection PubMed
description Burial rites of archaeological populations are frequently interpreted based on cremated remains of the human body and the urn they were deposited in. In comparison to inhumations, information about the deceased is much more limited and dependent on fragmentation, selection of body regions, taphonomic processes, and excavation techniques. So far, little attention has been paid to the context in which urns are buried. In this study, we combined archaeological techniques with anthropology, computed tomography, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geochemistry and isotopic approaches and conducted a detailed analysis on a case study of two Late Bronze Age urns from St. Pölten, Austria (c. 1430 and 1260 cal. BCE). The urns were recovered en-bloc and CT-scanned before the micro-excavation. Osteological and strontium isotope analysis revealed that the cremated remains comprised a young adult female and a child that died at the age of 10–12 years. Both individuals had been subject to physiological stress and were likely local. Animal bones burnt at different temperatures suggested different depositional pathways into the urn and pit as part of the pyre, food offerings, and unintentional settlement debris. Eight wild plant and five crop plant species appeared as part of the local landscape, as food offerings and fire accelerants. Sediment chemistry suggests that pyre remains were deposited around the urns during burial. Multi-element geochemistry, archaeobotany, and zooarchaeology provide insights into the Late Bronze Age environment, the process of cremation, the gathering of bones and final funerary deposition.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10468036
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-104680362023-08-31 More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials Waltenberger, Lukas Bosch, Marjolein D. Fritzl, Michaela Gahleitner, André Kurzmann, Christoph Piniel, Maximilian Salisbury, Roderick B. Strnad, Ladislav Skerjanz, Hannah Verdianu, Domnika Snoeck, Christophe Kanz, Fabian Rebay-Salisbury, Katharina PLoS One Research Article Burial rites of archaeological populations are frequently interpreted based on cremated remains of the human body and the urn they were deposited in. In comparison to inhumations, information about the deceased is much more limited and dependent on fragmentation, selection of body regions, taphonomic processes, and excavation techniques. So far, little attention has been paid to the context in which urns are buried. In this study, we combined archaeological techniques with anthropology, computed tomography, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geochemistry and isotopic approaches and conducted a detailed analysis on a case study of two Late Bronze Age urns from St. Pölten, Austria (c. 1430 and 1260 cal. BCE). The urns were recovered en-bloc and CT-scanned before the micro-excavation. Osteological and strontium isotope analysis revealed that the cremated remains comprised a young adult female and a child that died at the age of 10–12 years. Both individuals had been subject to physiological stress and were likely local. Animal bones burnt at different temperatures suggested different depositional pathways into the urn and pit as part of the pyre, food offerings, and unintentional settlement debris. Eight wild plant and five crop plant species appeared as part of the local landscape, as food offerings and fire accelerants. Sediment chemistry suggests that pyre remains were deposited around the urns during burial. Multi-element geochemistry, archaeobotany, and zooarchaeology provide insights into the Late Bronze Age environment, the process of cremation, the gathering of bones and final funerary deposition. Public Library of Science 2023-08-30 /pmc/articles/PMC10468036/ /pubmed/37647251 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289140 Text en © 2023 Waltenberger et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Waltenberger, Lukas
Bosch, Marjolein D.
Fritzl, Michaela
Gahleitner, André
Kurzmann, Christoph
Piniel, Maximilian
Salisbury, Roderick B.
Strnad, Ladislav
Skerjanz, Hannah
Verdianu, Domnika
Snoeck, Christophe
Kanz, Fabian
Rebay-Salisbury, Katharina
More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
title More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
title_full More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
title_fullStr More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
title_full_unstemmed More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
title_short More than urns: A multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
title_sort more than urns: a multi-method pipeline for analyzing cremation burials
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10468036/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37647251
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289140
work_keys_str_mv AT waltenbergerlukas morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT boschmarjoleind morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT fritzlmichaela morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT gahleitnerandre morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT kurzmannchristoph morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT pinielmaximilian morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT salisburyroderickb morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT strnadladislav morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT skerjanzhannah morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT verdianudomnika morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT snoeckchristophe morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT kanzfabian morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials
AT rebaysalisburykatharina morethanurnsamultimethodpipelineforanalyzingcremationburials