Funerary Variability in Late Eighth-Century B.C.E. Attica (Late Geometric II)

Alexandridou, Alexandra

doi:10.3764/aja.120.3.0333

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…That many vessels in Groups I and II are of small dimensions – a feature suggesting that the interior of this grave included at least one juvenile, as mentioned above – accords with the association of bird figurines and bird vessels, also evident in Groups I and II, with burials of children in the Aegean (Lemos 1994, 234; Xagorari 1996, 54; Kotsonas 2008, 324; Langdon 2008; Vizyinou 2011, 403; Alexandridou 2016, 349). Furthermore, the connection of beads with female burials – the 54 small perforated clay objects in Group I most likely functioned as beads – may further indicate that Cist Grave 11 included the burial of a (young) female 35…”

Section: Examples Of Naxian Mortuary Behaviour At Tsikalariosupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Whether cremation was used on Naxos as it was, for instance, in Attica remains ambiguous. Nonetheless, it is worth noting a condition which may prove useful for interpreting certain Naxian burials: some children in Attica, especially in the transition from childhood to early adulthood, seem to have been cremated, receiving a symbolic grave-package that incorporated elements associated with both children and adults (Alexandridou 2016, 349). One should also consider Gillian Shepherd's point (2015, 361) that child burials in the Greek world in which the deceased was cremated in the manner customary for fully mature individuals indicate that these particular children held special positions within their community.…”

Section: Differentiation and Network Of Interaction: Concluding Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Iron Age Mortuary Practices and Material Culture at the Inland Cemetery of Tsikalario on Naxos: Differentiation and Connectivity

Charalambidou

2018

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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Naxos, the largest of the Cycladic islands, offers a nuanced insight into Iron Age funerary behaviour in the Cyclades and relations between social groups as reflected in the archaeological record. The focus of this paper is the cemetery of Tsikalario in the hinterland of the island, with emphasis on two burial contexts which exhibit a range of activities related to funerary ceremonies and the consumption of grave-offerings. The grave-tumuli found in the Tsikalario cemetery comprise a mortuary ‘phenomenon’ not found otherwise on Naxos during the Early Iron Age. Such a differentiation in mortuary practice can be interpreted as a strategy used by the people of inland Naxos to distinguish their funerary habits from the more typical Naxian practices of, for example, the inhabitants of the coastal Naxos harbour town. This distinctive funerary practice can speak in favour of an attempt by the kinship group(s) that buried their deceased in the cemetery of Tsikalario to articulate status and identity. Beyond these tumuli, evidence from a different type of grave context at Tsikalario – Cist Grave 11 and its vicinity (Burial Context 11) – offers an additional example of a well-thought-out staging of funerary beliefs in the inland region of Naxos. Not only does it illustrate the coexistence of other types of burials in the cemetery, but, alongside the tumuli and their finds, it also demonstrates, through the symbolic package of the grave-offerings and the multifaceted network of interactions they reveal, that inland Naxos participated in the intra- and supra-island circulation of wares and ideas.

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Section: Examples Of Naxian Mortuary Behaviour At Tsikalariosupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Differentiation and Network Of Interaction: Concluding Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron Age Mortuary Practices and Material Culture at the Inland Cemetery of Tsikalario on Naxos: Differentiation and Connectivity

Charalambidou

2018

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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“…One obvious criterion – age – has already been eliminated in that both sub-adults and adults were buried intracommunally. Sex may well have been an issue, but the relative rarity of systematic examination of osteological remains of post-Bronze Age burials in Greece, and the major difficulties with assigning sex based on grave-goods (Liston 2012, 127–8; Alexandridou 2016, 348), means that we know next to nothing about sex ratios in extracommunal versus intracommunal burials. It is possible that the decision to bury intracommunally versus extracommunally boiled down to a matter of space, with some families having the requisite room available on their urban property and others not.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the Classical and Hellenistic periods, Dimakis catalogues 17 cist/pit/tile tombs and nine sarcophagi, all from intracommunal cemeteries (primarily that at Anaploga) for which the length of the tomb or sarcophagus is known. Determining age based on size of tomb or sarcophagus is a less than entirely straightforward process (see the cautionary notes in Liston 1993, 133–4), but it is suggestive that 14 of the 17 cist/pit/tile tombs and five of the nine sarcophagi are longer than 1.5 m (a boundary that has been used in the past to separate sub-adult from adult burials: see Morris 1987, 58–60; Houby-Nielsen 1995, 177–8; Alexandridou 2016, 350 n. 173).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Typology and Topography of Spartan Burials From the Protogeometric to the Hellenistic Period: Rethinking Spartan Exceptionalism and the Ostensible Cessation of Adult Intramural Burials in the Greek World

Christesen

2018

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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This article makes use of recently published graves to offer the first synthetic analysis of the typology and topography of Spartan burials that is founded on archaeological evidence. Our knowledge of Spartan burial practices has long been based almost entirely on textual sources – excavations conducted in Sparta between 1906 and 1994 uncovered fewer than 20 pre-Roman graves. The absence of pre-Roman cemeteries led scholars to conclude that, as long as the Lycurgan customs were in effect, all burials in Sparta were intracommunal and that few tombs had been found because they had been destroyed by later building activity. Burial practices have, as a result, been seen as one of many ways in which Sparta was an outlier. The aforementioned recently published graves offer a different picture of Spartan burial practices. It is now clear that there was at least one extracommunal cemetery in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. What would normally be described as extramural burials did, therefore, take place, but intracommunal burials of adults continued to be made in Sparta throughout the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. Those burials were concentrated along important roads and on the slopes of hills. The emergent understanding of Spartan burial practices takes on added significance when placed in a wider context. Burial practices in Sparta align closely with those found in Argos and Corinth. Indeed, burial practices in Sparta, rather than being exceptional, are notably similar to those of its most important Peloponnesian neighbours; a key issue is that in all three poleis intracommunal burials continued to take place through the Hellenistic period. The finding that adults were buried both extracommunally and intracommunally in Sparta, Argos and Corinth after the Geometric period calls into question the standard narrative of the development of Greek burial practices in the post-Mycenaean period.

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“…In any case, it seems that the burial group of the 'Dipylon' paved the way for the burial developments attested in Athens after the middle of the eighth century. By the third quarter of the century, although the rite of cremation was never abandoned, inhumation has been almost exclusively adopted for the adult deceased of the groups buried in the northern part of Athens, and the large organized necropoleis of the Attic countryside (Alexandridou, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Dipylon” vases and their graves: the end of exclusivity in Early Iron age Athens

Alexandridou

2022

Rev. M (Rio J.)

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Choosing the “Dipylon vases" as a point of departure, the present article explores the funerary practices in Athens and Attica during the middle of the eighth century and the Late Geometric I period closely associated with the date during the ninth and the second half of the eighth centuries. Rather than the funerary iconography of these vases, the context is set at the heart of the discussion. The interest is placed on the burials marked in this special way and, more importantly, on the identity of their occupants who deserved this special type of memorization, accomplished through these clay mnemata.

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Funerary Variability in Late Eighth-Century B.C.E. Attica (Late Geometric II)

Cited by 6 publications

References 33 publications

Iron Age Mortuary Practices and Material Culture at the Inland Cemetery of Tsikalario on Naxos: Differentiation and Connectivity

Iron Age Mortuary Practices and Material Culture at the Inland Cemetery of Tsikalario on Naxos: Differentiation and Connectivity

The Typology and Topography of Spartan Burials From the Protogeometric to the Hellenistic Period: Rethinking Spartan Exceptionalism and the Ostensible Cessation of Adult Intramural Burials in the Greek World

The “Dipylon” vases and their graves: the end of exclusivity in Early Iron age Athens

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