Corpse burn

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Corpse fire of the Iron Age and Imperial Age settlement near Lemke , human teeth in front right

Corpse burn (English cremation ) is the name for the ashes of the dead after a cremation . The term is mainly used in archaeological literature.

In a narrower sense, the term corpse burn mostly refers to the burned and calcined bones of the deceased.

Corpse fire is an important reference point in archaeological investigations in order to track down burial rituals of the past. The distribution of the corpse burn in the grave gives an indication of whether the ashes were buried in an organic container. It also plays an important role in distinguishing between cremation places and other fire places on prehistoric and early historical burial grounds. For paleodemography and anthropological studies, however, it can often only be used to a limited extent.

literature

  • Birgit Großkopf: corpse burn. Biological and cultural historical source material for the reconstruction of prehistoric and early historical populations and their funeral practices. Dissertation University of Leipzig, Leipzig 2004, PDF publication, 12.4 MB .
  • Martina Lange et al .: A bibliography on cremation. = Corpse fire bibliography. Council of Europe, Strasbourg 1987.
  • Friedrich W. Rösing: The corpses of the Iron Age grave fields of Bargstedt I, Harsefeld and Issendorf III (Stade district). In: Hans-Jürgen Häßler : On the internal structure and distribution of the pre-Roman Iron Age in the southern Niederelbeg region (= material booklets on the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony. Issue 11, ISSN  0465-2770 ). Volume 1. A Lax, Hildesheim 1977, pp. 131-143.
  • Friedrich W. Rösing: The corpse fires and their demographic statements. In: Hans-Jürgen Häßler: An urn cemetery from the pre-Roman Iron Age near Soderstorf, Lüneburg district, in Lower Saxony. Excavation section 1 (= The urn cemeteries in Lower Saxony. Vol. 12, ISSN  0940-7448 ). Volume 1: Text and Catalog. A Lax, Hildesheim, 1977, pp. 79-97.
  • Friedrich W. Rösing: Methods and information possibilities of the anthropological corpse burn treatment. In: Archeology and Natural Sciences. Vol. 1, 1977, ISSN  0170-477X , pp. 53-80.
  • Friedrich W. Rösing: The people of Liebenau: paleodemography and grave practice. In: Hans-Jürgen Häßler: The Saxon burial ground near Liebenau, Kr. Nienburg (Weser). Volume 5: Individual studies and scientific research results (= Studies on Saxony Research . Vol. 5, 4). Self-published, Hanover 1994, ISBN 3-9803657-0-0 , pp. 189-213.
  • Renate Schafberg: The urn grave field from the Roten Berg near Loitsche, district of Ohrekreis. Anthropological treatment of the corpse burns (= publications of the State Office for Archeology, State Museum for Prehistory Saxony-Anhalt. Vol. 52). State Office for Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle / Saale 1998, ISBN 3-910010-36-9 (also: Braunschweig, Technical University, dissertation, 1998).
  • Joachim Wahl: Corpse burn examinations. An overview of the processing and information options of cremation graves. In: Prehistoric Journal . Vol. 57, Issue 1, 1982, pp. 2-125.
  • Joachim Wahl: Observations on the cremation of human corpses. In: Archaeological correspondence sheet . Vol. 11, 1981, pp. 271-280.