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The persistent presence of the dead: recent excavations at the hunter-gatherer cemetery at Zvejnieki (Latvia)

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Author

Summary, in English

The well-known Mesolithic cemeteries of Northern Europe have long been viewed as evidence of developing social complexity in those regions in the centuries immediately before the Neolithic transition. These sites also had important symbolic connotations. This study uses new and more detailed analysis of the burial practices in one of these cemeteries to argue that much more is involved than social differentiation. Repeated burial in the densely packed site of Zvejnieki entailed large-scale disturbance of earlier graves, and would have involved recurrent encounters with the remains of the ancestral dead. The intentional use of older settlement material in the grave fills may also have signified a symbolic link with the past. The specific identity of the dead is highlighted by the evidence for clay face masks and tight body wrappings in some cases.

Department/s

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

1016-1029

Publication/Series

Antiquity

Volume

87

Issue

338

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Antiquity

Topic

  • Archaeology

Keywords

  • Latvia
  • Zvejnieki
  • Mesolithic
  • burial practices
  • archaeothanatology
  • cemetery
  • hunter-gatherers

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0003-598X