AEB_26 The Burial rite in Prehistory

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2008
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Stanislav Stuchlík, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Měřínský, CSc.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Dobešová
Timetable
Mon 16:40–18:15 C43
Prerequisites (in Czech)
AEA_01 Introduction to Archaeology
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The lecture is devoted to the study of the development of burying in the primeval history of mankind, with a special aim at the situation in Central Europe, and especially in the Czech Republic. The introduction to the lectures occupies itself with the significance of burial customs in the life of primeval inhabitants, cognition of both basic and special funeral practices, terminological questions, possibilities of demography of cemeteries, and the first burials in the history of mankind. The lessons to follow will gradually familiarize the students with burial customs in the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze and Hallstatt periods in a chronological order and with the specific occurrences in the individual cultures. During the instruction the main attention will be concentrated at information about the basic burial rituals in the individual cultures, and placing of these customs into the framework of chronological, geographical, and also social contexts. Evidences of non-ritual burials in the settlements, connection of the inhabitants of the period with the cemeteries, or an absence of graves and burial grounds in some periods will not be left aside. Although the instruction will be focused at the common demonstrations of the studied phenomenon, special and exceptional demonstrations will be documented as well to present the burial rite and its development in the primeval era in a complex manner. The lectures will be supplemented with a pictorial documentation of both typical and some extraordinary burial customs within the individual periods and cultures not only in this country but also in the surrounding regions.
Syllabus
  • 1. General introduction to the studied issues. Variability of burial rite. Skeleton, cremation, symbolic burials. Animal burials. Non-recordable ways of burials. First burials in the history of human society. 2. Interment in the Neolithic. Scarce burials and cemeteries in the Linear Pottery culture period. Burials in settlement features. Burials of people with Stroked pottery and the first occurrences of cremated burials. Burials of people with the Moravian Painted ware and the beginnings of mass interment. 3. Interment in the Lower to Upper Eneolithic. Sporadic burials of the Funnel Beaker people. Barrow cemeteries in the Prostějov and Olomouc regions. Skeleton, cremation, symbolic graves. Surviving of barrow interment till the period of Baden pottery people. Sporadic burials of the Baden culture. Rare burials of the Jevišovice and Bosaca periods. 4. Interment in the Late Eneolithic. Emergence of large cemeteries in the Late Eneolithic. Burial rite of the Corded Ware culture. Burials under barrows; flat graves. Wooden structures on the graves. Variances in the grave equipment. Different placing of the dead. Cemeteries of the people with Funnel Beaker culture. Graves with circular grooves. Different placing of the dead. Graves with rich goods. Barrow cemeteries in East Moravia. 5. Surviving of Eneolithic traditions in the burial rite of the beginning of the Bronze Age. Burial rite of the proto-Únětice culture. Burial rite of the Chlopice-Veselé type. Existence of two cultural regions (Únětice and Epicorded) and their relation. 6. Interment in the Early Bronze Age. Burial grounds of the people with the Únětice culture. Area of the cemeteries, principles of the burial rite. Interment in coffins. Mass burials, secondary burials. Differences in grave goods. The question of existence of children's burials. 7. Interment in the Early Bronze Age. Burial rite of the Nitra group people. Skeletal burials, area of the cemeteries. Different placing of men and women. Differences from and similarities with the burial rite of the Únětice culture and their mutual influences. 8. Secondary interventions in graves. Causes of secondary opening of the graves in the Early Bronze Age. Method of tomb robbing, the shape of robbing shaft and its discerning. Secondary burials. Dating of secondary interventions. Questions of anthropophagia. 9. Burials at the Únětice culture settlements. Mass burials at the settlements. Incomplete skeletons and individual human bones in settlement features. Differences against burials at cemeteries. Cave burials. 10. Interment towards the end of the Early Bronze Age. Barrow cemetery in Borotice. Individual graves of the Věteřov group. Burials at the settlements. The question of mass burials at settlements. Pithoi. Possibilities of family relations determination with mass burials. 11. Interment in the Middle Bronze Age. Construction and size of barrows, numbers of burials under the barrows. Issue of preserving and discerning of burial relics. Variability of burial rite: skeletal graves (in crouched and supine positions) and cremated (urn, pit). 12. Interment in the Middle Bronze Age. Issues of flat graves. Differences in the goods of the deceased. Children's burials in vessels (Hradisko near Kroměříž). Burials at the settlements. Occurrence of human bones in a ditch in Přítluky. 13. Interment in the Urnfield culture period. Burial rite in the area of Middle Danubian urnfields. Urnfields, urn and pit graves, barrow graves, singular graves. Extraordinarily rich graves. Burials at the settlements. Occurrence of human skeletons at Cezavy near Blučina. 14. Burial rite in the Lusatian Urnfield culture area. Urnfields, barrow grounds. Urn, pit, hollow graves. “Dušniky” on the pottery. Pithoi from Ivaň. Burials at the settlements. Comparison of burial rite in the Lusatian and Middle Danubian areas. 15. Burial rite in the Hallstatt. Fading of the urn burial rite in the Platěnice culture. Big chamber tombs. Horákov cemeteries with both cremated and skeletal burials. Barrow burials with rich goods. Construction of chamber graves. Interpretation of the finds situation in the Býčí skála cave.
Literature
  • PODBORSKÝ, Vladimír. Pravěké dějiny Moravy. Edited by Jaromír Kubíček. V Brně: Muzejní a vlastivědná společnost, 1993, 543 s. ISBN 8085048450. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
Requirements for the colloquium: A thorough knowledge of basic and also more significant atypical manifestation of burial rite within the individual primeval cultures and chronological periods.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět na žádost vyučujícího není vyučován pro studenty 1-2 semestru
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999, Autumn 2001, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2014.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2008, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2008/AEB_26