Abstract
For a long time, terms such as profanation, robbery and looting were applied unambiguously to ‘disturbed’ Early Medieval Barbarian tombs, also with reference to legislation of the period.
The expression ‘grave robbing’ is now being replaced by ‘reopening’, ‘secondary intervention’ or ‘manipulation’. The assumption of illicit reopening for economic gain is now compared with a wider range of interpretations, ranging from the (de)legitimization of ancestors and descendants to regular funerary practices in the context of rites of passage.
This international conference has brought to Italy reflections on this matter, complexity both materially and with regard to its significance. The volume documents the debate that has developed north of the Alps, addressing methodological issues, including examples of taphonomic and archaeo-thanatological analysis, comparing case studies from much of Europe – from Italy to Scandinavia and the British Isles to Romania – and reconsiders the basic issue.
When and how did each grave reopening occur? How were objects and the remains of the dead treated? What was the attitude of people’s continued interaction with interred bodies? But above all: what should we pay attention to during future excavations in order to be able to answer these questions and ask new ones?
Translated title of the contribution | [Autom. eng. transl.] Theft and Ritual? Reopening Burial Sites in the Early Middle Ages |
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Original language | Italian |
Publisher | SAP - Società Archeologica s.r.l. |
Number of pages | 200 |
Volume | 7 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-88-99547-97-4 |
Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- Reopening
- Riapertura
- barbaricum
- sepolture
- tombs