Burials of martial character in the British Iron Age

The significance of the decision to bury an individual with martial objects during the British Iron Age cannot be overstated. It is a rare subset of funerary practice, conferred upon select individuals. This article examines martial burials, firstly summarising past research, then presenting an overview of martial object classes, and their treatments in funerary practice. There is a particular focus on the Arras Culture of East Yorkshire, which dominates the data due to the highly unusual, almost unique, ritual in which spears appear to have been thrown at the corpse as part of the funeral. The analysis presented here highlights the importance of non-offensive martial objects, and demonstrates that there is much greater diversity in Iron Age martial burial practice than previously recognised

Insights on the changing dynamics of cemetery use in the neolithic and chalcolithic of southern Portugal. Radiocarbon dating of Lugar do Canto Cave (Santarém)

Lugar do Canto Cave is one of the most relevant Neolithic burial caves in Portugal given not only its extraordinary preservation conditions at the time of discovery but also the quality of the field record obtained during excavation. Its material culture immediately pointed to a Middle Neolithic cemetery but recent radiocarbon determinations also allowed the recognition of an apparent two step phasing of its use within the period (ca. 4000-3400 cal BC): an older one characterized by a single burial and a later reoccupation as a collective necropolis. Comparisons with other well-dated cave cemeteries in Southern Portugal permitted the recognition of changing funerary practices and strategies of cemetery use during the later stages of the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic: 1) ca. 3800 cal BC as the possible turning point from the practice of individual to collective burials; 2) alternating periods of intensive use and deliberate abandonment of cemeteries (evidenced by their intentional closure). Research avenues to investigate the social organization and ideological context underlying these aspects of the Neolithic communities in greater depth are tentatively pointed out in this paper.FEDER funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competividade (COMPETE

New objects in old structures: The Iron Age hoard of the Palacio III megalithic funerary complex (Almadén de la Plata, Seville, Spain)

Cultural contact, exchange and interaction feature high in the list of challenging topics of current research on European Prehistory. Not far off is the issue of the changing role of monuments in the making and maintaining of key cultural devices such as memory and identity. Addressing both these highly-debated issues from a science-based perspective, in this paper we look at an unusual case study set in southern Iberia and illustrate how these archaeological questions can benefit from robust materials-science approaches.We present the contextual, morphological and analytical study of an exceptional Early Iron Age hoard composed of a number of different (and mostly exotic) materials such as amber, quartz, silver and ceramic. This hoard, found under the fallen orthostat of a megalithic structure built at least 2000 years earlier, throws new light on long-distance exchange networks and the effect they could have had on the cultural identities and social relations of local Iberian Early Iron Age communities. Moreover, the archaeometric study reveals how diverse and distant the sources of these item are (Northern Europe to Eastern and Western Mediterranean raw materials, as well as local and eastern technologies), therefore raising questions concerning the social mechanisms used to establish change and resistance in contexts of colonial encounter

Technology and culture in Greek and Roman antiquity

The technological achievements of the Greeks and Romans continue to fascinate and excite admiration. But what was the place of technology in their cultures? Through five case-studies, this book sets ancient technical knowledge in its political, social and intellectual context. It explores the definition of the techne of medicine in classical Athens, the development of new military technology in Hellenistic times, the self-image of technicians through funerary art in the early Roman Empire, the resolution of boundary disputes in the early second century AD, and the status of architecture and architects in late antiquity. Deploying a wide range of evidence, it reconstructs a dialectic picture of ancient technology, where several ancient points of view are described and analyzed, and their interaction examined. Dr Cuomo argues for the centrality of technology to the ancient world-picture, and for its extraordinarily rich political, social, economic and religious significance. • Offers five in-depth, varied case-studies, each with a slightly different methodological focus • Covers a broad period from classical Athens to late antiquity and a wide range of disciplines • Only book of its kind to make extensive use of non-textual material and of the newest historiographical approaches from both classics and the history of science and technology Contents Introduction; 1. The definition of techne in classical Athens; 2. The Hellenistic military revolution; 3. Death and the craftsman; 4. Boundary disputes in the Roman Empire; 5. Architects of late antiquity; Epilogue

At the crossroads of different traditions. Social and cultural dynamics in Roman Thrace through the epigraphic practice

Il presente articolo studia i processi di integrazione della Tracia nel mondo romano attraverso l'analisi di tre fenomeni tra loro correlati: diffusione della lingua latina; diffusione della cittadinanza romana; diffusione dei nomi romani. Per illustrare questi fenomeni il contributo prende in considerazione la produzione epigrafica di tre centri urbani della 'provincia Thracia': Maroneia, Perinthos e Philippolis. Data la loro posizione geografica (rispettivamente nella Tracia egea, nel Chersoneso tracico e nell'entroterra), questi tre centri possono fornire un quadro indicativo delle dinamiche socio-culturali indotte dalla presenza romana nel territorio trace.This paper deals with the integration of Thrace into the Roman world through the analysis of three interrelated phenomena: the diffusion of the Latin language; the diffusion of Roman citizenship; the diffusion of Roman names. To highlight these phenomena the present contribution analyses the epigraphic production of three urban centres of the 'provincia Thracia': Maroneia, Perinthos, and Philippolis. Due to their geographical position (in Aegean Thrace, Thracian Chersonesos, and mainland Thrace respectively), these three cities can provide an indicative picture of the social and cultural dynamics induced by the Roman presence in the Thracian territory

From Mounds to Monasteries: A Look at Spiro and Other Centers Through The Use of Metaphor

Previous study of the extensive and elaborate funerary offerings at the Spiro site have explained their presence by an exchange system with Spiro functioning as a gateway center. More recently, Schambach has argued extensively and passionately for Spiro’s role as an entrepôt redistributive center. However, this argument fails to account for much of the accumulation of funerary items present at Spiro. As an alternative, I propose that some ceremonial centers such as Spiro functioned solely as religious centers, much like the monasteries of medieval Europe with parallels in the use of architecture, economic support, relics, and the treatment of individuals at death. A model based on the metaphor of monastic life provides greater explanatory potential than that of the economically-driven entepôt

Learning from the Dead: How Burial Practices in Roman Britain Reflect Changes in Belief and Society

This paper begins by examining the burial traditions of the Iron age Britons and Classical Romans to see how these practices reflect their societal values and belief systems. The funerary methods of both the Britons and Romans are then analyzed following the Roman occupation of Britain in 43 AD to see how these practices changed once the two groups came into contact with each other. The findings show that rather than Romanization, there is a hybridization of burial practices which incorporated and reflect both Roman and British beliefs and values

Images of Music and Musicians as Indicators of Status, Wealth and Political Power on Roman Funerary Monuments

Untersuchungen bildlicher Darstellungen von Musikinstrumenten sowie Musikantinnen und Musikanten haben ergeben, dass sie in Grabkontexten benutzt wurden, um auf den Wohlstand sowie den politischen oder sozialen Status der verstorbenen Person oder ihrer Familie hinzuweisen. Dieser Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die Ergebnisse der Analyse, basierend auf Beispielen aus republikanischen, imperialen und spätantiken Kontexten. Ziel des Beitrags ist, Veränderungen zu untersuchen, die sich sowohl auf die Bedeutung der für die Grabmäler gewählten Themen als auch auf die Rolle der Musikantinnen und Musikanten im Alltag auswirkten