Perfect Death: Examples of Pitted Ware Ritualisation of the Dead
Year: 2015
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: To handle death may be a difficult task for the living. The deathof a person creates a turbulent situation that needs to be resolved.Ritual actions and burial practices performed within the frameworkof the prevailing social norms are a way to deal with conflictsand changed power relations. This paper deals with such issuesexemplified by the Pitted Ware burial practices seen in theburial ground at Ajvide, Eksta Parish on Gotland. The burial expressionsobserved from this site indicate the use of different ritualsin the treatment of the dead. These are visible by bodies buriedin the supine position in single, or sometimes in double or triplegraves, while some consist of individuals in a “package” where thebody must have been in a state of decay when buried. Well over athousand identified human bone fragments found in the culturallayers indicate bodies that may have been exposed above groundor used secondarily and ultimately dispersed in the area. Emptygraves and graves with missing bones also indicate that bones ofdeceased ancestors may have been of importance in the death ritualsthat assured a “Perfect Death”.
Author: Paul Wallin
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2526730265