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'Pankowská A, Moník M, Nechvátal M, 2018: READING THE SILHOUETTES OF BURNT DEAD: USING ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS (PXRF) TO IDENTIFY LATE BRONZE AND EARLY IRON AGE URN CENOTAPHS . Anthropologie (Brno) 56, 1: 39-52'. |
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| Abstract | | Deposition of empty urns or urns containing only non-representative amounts of bones is highly sophisticated and enigmatic symbolic act among prehistoric funeral practices. Low presence or absence of bones in burnt burials can be the result of intentional activity on the part of past populations, or the high fragmentation of bones, which are more likely to be lost. The aim of this study consists in applying analytical methods (pXRF) to determine whether cremation urn infills contained bone remains, as well as to approach their initial amount. For the purpose of the study we analysed urn infills, bones and surrounding subsoil (total of 35 samples). Discriminant analyses (DA) were carried out in order to identify the elements which best separate soil and the elements which separate infills on the basis of bone amount. Infills of urns without bones differed significantly from those with bones in amounts of P, Al, Ca, and Pb, and were similar to subsoil samples in some aspects. This indicates there have never been any bones in “empty” urns. In our study, we were able to distinguish urn cenotaphs from decomposed burnt bodies and showed that burnt bones chemically affected surrounding soil. The non-destructive pXRF showed itself to be an adequate technique for the analysis of elemental composition of soil and bone samples. | | | | Keywords | | Burnt burials – Early Iron Age – Late Bronze Age – pXRF – Urn cenotaphs | | | | DOI | | https://doi.org/10.26720/anthro.17.08.28.1 | | |
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