Deposits of bodies in circular pits in the Neolithic period (mid-fifth to the mid-fourth millennium BCE)
In: Human remains and violence: an interdisciplinary journal, Band 5, Heft 1, S. 55-69
ISSN: 2054-2240
Among the numerous human remains found in circular pits belonging to the fourth
millennium BCE cultures north of the Alps, there are many examples of bodies
laid in random (or unconventional) positions. Some of these remains in irregular
configurations, interred alongside an individual in a conventional flexed
position, can be considered as a 'funerary accompaniment'. Other
burials, of isolated individuals or multiple individuals buried in
unconventional positions, suggest the existence of burial practices outside of
the otherwise strict framework of funerary rites. The focus of this article is
the evidence recently arising from excavation and anthropological studies from
the Upper Rhine Plain (Michelsberg and Munzingen cultures). We assume that these
bodies in unconventional positions were not dumped as trash, but that they were
a part of the final act of a complex ritual. It is hypothesised that these
bodies, interpreted here as ritual waste, were sacrificial victims, and a number
of possible explanations, including 'peripheral accompaniment' or
victims of acts of war, are debated.