Projects / Programmes
Beyond materiality: Prehistoric communities and their burial customs in the light of new scientific analyses
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.02.00 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H340 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
burial customs, mode of burial, grave architecture, Bronze Age, Iron Age, cemeteries, South-Eastern Alpine region, identity, mobility
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
31965 |
PhD Brina Škvor Jernejčič |
Archaeology |
Head |
2017 - 2020 |
0 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The proposed research will study the burial rites of the Bronze and Iron Age communities that populated the South-Eastern Alpine region and the causes and factors of the changes in these rites. A detailed analysis of burial rites in the past can provide, to a certain extent, a reconstruction of the material and immaterial world of Bronze and Iron Age communities. Our research is based on the premise that already in prehistoric periods, burial rites were a significant indicator of identity for individuals as well as their communities. Different burial rites should be therefore recognized as an intentional choice of such practices with the aim to construct and preserve different identities. Moreover, changes in burial rites can be understood as a reflection of changes in beliefs, values, and traditions of these communities. The proposed research will provide new knowledge in our field of research and will be complementary with the results of the previous studies, in which new knowledge about the social structures, economy, spatial organization, paleodemography etc. is based most of all on the archaeological record.
In order to achieve expected results, we will elaborate a database for the digital catalogue of the cemeteries. New methodological approaches – e.g. MDCT and micro-excavations of the selected urns from Novo mesto – will be applied as we would like to gain new information for our investigation. The cremated remains from cemeteries in Dobova and Mengeš will be investigated with the modern anthropological analyses; moreover, animal remains from selected sites will be also studied. The thesis that changes in the mode of burial are associated with the mobility or migrations of either individuals or groups will be tested by innovative and independent natural-science analyses of stable isotopes (87Sr/86Sr). Beside this new information, some unpublished sites – e.g. cemeteries in Mengeš – will be analyzed and published. For the purposes of this study, a synthesis about the mode of burial, grave architecture and burial rites from Gorenjska region will be made. In addition, the comparative study and interpretation about the burial rites from Novo mesto, Ljubljana and Molnik cemeteries – three key sites for investigating the persistence and change in burial practices in the transitional phase of the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age – will be carry out. According to all the data, we will attempt to reconstruct funeral customs in their specific as well as general features within the phenomenon of the Urnfield culture and their transformation in the Early Iron Age.
Our research will result in a scientific monograph and a digital database (available online). An innovative interpretation of burial rites and their influence on the formation of the identities of the prehistoric communities will be provided on the basis of a detailed classification and analysis of the burial ritual and the data acquired from natural-science analyses. Interdisciplinary approach of the proposed research and supra-regional analysis of the burial rites and their interpretation in connection with the results of the results of scientific analyses rises expectations, that the anticipated results will be a great contribution to the archaeological science.
Significance for science
The proposed project will contribute to the development of new knowledge and different methodologies within the scope of individual fields within archaeology – above all the Bronze and Iron Age archaeology of the south-eastern alpine territory, but also in the wider sense, in the context of the Funerary Archaeology. On the basis of the already published data a database will be created for further computer data processing. This database will be one of the envisioned results of the proposed project and will be made available onlne. The data will be systematically collected and classified, which will enable a more precise and unified documenting and processing of the data on burial practices also in future studies, which will be comparable to each other. Brand new results will be acquired by MDCT and also by micro-excavations of urns; both methods will enable a fresh insight into some of the aspects of funeral processes. This is an original and very promising methodological approach in the research of burial practices and it has been used very rarely in in context of Slovene archaeology. In this sense, our research will be a pilot study of the systematically selected unpublished graves from Novo mesto, which will provide the basis and reference for further research. The envisioned results may influence the development of these new methodologies within the frame of prehistoric archaeology in Slovenia and beyond its borders. By introducing the new strontium 87Sr/86Sr stable isotope analysis and the interpretation of the data from the study of funeral rites, our research will be an innovative contribution to the science of archaeology. The comprehensive research strategy, which includes methodological approaches from archaeology and from other natural-sciences, promises a comprehensive study on funeral rites of prehistoric societies, a study that is certainly a desideratum of prehistoric archaeology. The monograph and the digital database will be reference publications for the study of Bronze and Iron Age societies, their tangible and intangible heritage.
Significance for the country
By providing new findings, the project will contribute to a better knowledge and understanding of the rich tangible, but even more the intangible heritage of the Bronze and Iron Age communities in the territory of Slovenia. New knowledge about the causes for the changes and for the tradition in the type of burial, attire, grave architecture, and funeral rituals, as well as the influence of these factors on the identity of an individual or a community will be an innovative contribution in the research of prehistoric societies. New methodological approaches and findings of this study will be included in the educational process and will provide new contents in the education of future archaeologists. The findings will be presented internationally, in conferences, in articles and during short research residencies abroad. All this will promote the international recognition of Slovene science and culture. The significance of the proposed project also lies in the fact that this is the first project and systematic study that takes a comprehensive approach at the funeral rites of prehistoric societies, and thus the project thematically and methodologically fits into the network of research projects in the neighboring countries. The envisioned results will be in the first place directed at the archaeological science, but also for the benefit of experts of other humanistic disciplines (e.g. history, sociology, culturology, and psychology), who work, in one way or another, on the problem of funeral rites, practices, beliefs, and identities of an individual and society in the past and in the present. The acquired new knowledge may prove useful in other areas as well, especially in museology, education, publishing; with the main target groups: general public, museum curators, educators, authors of scientific and popular science literature.
Most important scientific results
Interim report,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report,
final report
