Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World

Although a large number of cemeteries have been explored in Roman Britain they have never been seen as central to the study of the province. This collection of twenty-eight papers, from a symposium held at the University of Durham in 1997, explores different approaches to examine the contribution that cemeteries can make to our wider understanding of Roman society. The papers are grouped under five headings: The reconstruction of mortuary rituals; Burial and social status; The dead in the landscape; Burial and ethnicity and society; Religion and Burial in late Roman Britain and Italy.. Table of Contents. Preface (M.Millet) viiAbstracts, Zusammenfassungen, Resumes ixList of Contributors xxiiiTHE RECONSTRUCTION OF MORTUARY RITUALS1. Burial, society and context in the provincial Roman worls (J.Pearce) p.1Introduction p.132. Ritual, sequence, and structure in Late Iron Age mortuary practices in north-west Europe (A.p. Fitxpatrick) p.153. Reconstructing funerary rituals: the evidence of ustrina and related archaeological structures (M.Polfer) p.304. Phoenix rising: aspects of cremation in Roman Britain (J. McKinley) p.385. Functional and conceptual archaeobotanical data from Roman cremations (A. Kreuz) p.456. Pottery assemblages in Gallo-Roman cemteries (M. Tuffreau-Libre) p.52BURIAL AND SOCIAL STATUSIntroduction p.617.Mors immatura in he Roman world - a mirror of society and tradition (S. Martin-Kilcher) p.638. Portrait figures on sephulchral altars of Roman liberti: evidence of Romanization or assimilation of attributes characterizing higher social strata? (D. Dexheimer) p.789. High status burials in roman Britain (1st-3rd centuries AD) - potential of interpretation (M. Struck) p. 8510. Funerary rites in Verulamium during the early Roman period (R. Niblett) p.9711. Biology and burial practices from the end of the first century AD to the beginning of the fifth century AD: the rurla necropolis of Chantambre (essonne, France) (P. Murail and L. Girard) p.10512. A Roman cemetery in the eastern Civitas Treverorum. Preliminary report on the excavations in Wadern-Oberlosten in Northwest Saarland (Germany) (A. Abegg-Wigg) p.11213.An elite funerary enclosure in the centre of the villa of Biberist-Spitalhof (Switzerland) - a case study (C. Schucany) p.118THE DEAD IN THE LANDSCAPEIntroduction p.12514. Putting the dead in their place: burial location in Roman Britain (S. Esmonde Cleary) p.12715. Continuity of prehistoric burial sites in the Roman landscape of Sandy Flanders (F. Vermeulen and J. Bourgeois) p. 14316. The living and the dead: approches to landscape around Lyons (L. Tranoy) p.16217. Burial in Asia Minor during the Imperial period, with particular reference to Cilicia and Cappadocia (M. Spanu) p.169BURIAL AND ETHNICITYIntroduction p.17918. Early Roman graves in Southern Bavaria: a review (P. Fasold) p. 18119. Early Roman graves in Cologne (M. Riedel) p. 19220. Connection between funerary rites and ethnic groups in the cemeteries of north-eastern Pannonia (J. Topal) p.19721. Romanization and ethnic elements in burial practice in the southern part of Pannonia Inferior and Moesia Superior) A. Jovanovic) p.204SOCIETY, RELIGION AND BURIAL IN LATE ROMAN BRITAIN AND ITALYIntroduction p.21522. Putting Late Roman burial practice (from Britain) in context (L. Quensel-von-Kalben) 23. Gender imbalances in Romano-British cemetery populations: a re-evaluation of the evidence (C. Davison) p.23124. Glass vessels as grave goods and grave ornaments in the catacombs of Rome (P. De Santis) p.23825. Clothing in burial practice in Italy in the early Christian period (R. Martorelli) p. 24426. Amulet and grave in Late Antiquity: some examples from Roman cemeteries (D. Nuzzo) p.24927. Funerary equipment from the circiforme basilica by the Via Ardeatina, Rome (P. del Moro) p.25628. Intra-mural burials at Rome between the 5th and 7th centuries AD (R, Meneghini and R. Santangeli Valenzani) p. 263Afterword (R.Reece) p.270