Archaeology

The stone cist was a chance find resulting from the excavation of the dwelling mound (wierde) of Heveskesklooster. Owing to its location beneath this younger site and a layer of natural sediment, also the Neolithic surface surrounding the stone cist was excavated. This provided a rare opportunity to study the use of space surrounding the
monument. The stone cist was probably built between 3200 and 2950 cal. BC. The flint assemblage testifies to the activities that took place in the area surrounding the stone cist. Although the particular date of these activities is difficult to correlate to the stone cist, it seems that these took place during both TRB and later Neolithic periods. The flint assemblage cannot easily be fit into a bipartite division between ritual and everyday activities. Compared to other TRB stone cists, the Heveskesklooster stone cist yielded few chamber finds. This is the first indication that later inhabitants of the site may have disturbed the content of the burial. Another can be found in the absence of some of the orthostats. Both arguments suggest that in their behaviour the Late Neolithic habitants at Heveskesklooster did not revere the stone cist burial as an ancestral place, but instead seem to have desecrated it. It is concluded that local Corded Ware communities may have had widely differing notions about the relevance of TRB monuments to their sense of ancestry and identity.

A booklet containing four papers from Groningen-based research master students. All papers elaborate on the multi-fold meaning of landscape studies in archaeology, with case studies in northwest Europe, Greece and New Zealand and topics ranging from palynology, mythology, objectivity to heritage.

Archaeology has focused on the mortuary context since its inception. The earliest antiquarians took advantage of prominent burial monuments and other grave contexts in their search for curios and information about past societies. While burials tell us much about the ways in which people buried their dead, they have also been a valuable resource for reconstructing the ways in which people lived. Today, the technical advances made in the study of human remains themselves allow for more detailed study of past peoples than ever before. With that change has come an added responsibility concerning the proper handling of human remains. During this symposium, co-organised between the Universities of Groningen and Leiden, we aim to start a discussion between researchers interested in studying cultural and emotional aspects of burial practices, and those using human remains as a data source for lifestyle and population studies, to which the issue of ethical practices is crucial.

April 19
Session 1: Bioarchaeology and the use of funerary remains for population studies
Session 2: Funerary archaeology and exploring approaches to death and mourning
Session 3: Human remains and ethical practice in archaeology

April 20
The workshop will focus discussion on the results of the three sessions.  The aim of the interactive workshop sessions is to engage ReMA and PhD students in critical review of mortuary archaeology today and to explore opportunities for collaborative research.