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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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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 |
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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 |
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