The Breaking of Objects as a Funerary Rite

Grinsell, L. V.

doi:10.1080/0015587x.1961.9717293

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…In Greece, the mythical ferryman of the dead, Charon, depicted on many Athenian lekythoi of the fifth century BC, survived and transformed in medieval and later times as Charos, the god of death who rules over Hades (Sullivan ). Practices such as the singing of laments, the pouring of libations, drinking toasts to the dead, eating funerary meals together, and smashing vessels, as well as removing, washing, and re‐interring remains from their original place of deposition, can be found in Late Bronze Age, Archaic and Classical times, and some into the modern period (Astrom ; Grinsell , 482; Pentaris ; Politis ; Vermeule ). These practices have survived changes in the form of disposal of the body, as well as ideological, political, social and religious transformations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

I Will Follow You into the Dark: Death and Emotion in a Mycenaean Royal Funeral

Middleton

2017

Oxford J Archaeology

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Summary Despite many years of intensive research into burial and funeral practices in Late Bronze Age (LBA) Greece, emotion remains largely absent from the discussion. Yet death and the emotions it provoked would have been familiar aspects of daily life in Mycenaean Greece. The dead had to be dealt with and moved on through various rites until they became a safe part of the landscape and memory of individuals and communities. In addition to anthropological and psychological research on death and grieving, we have several categories of evidence that can allow us a glimpse of the emotional world of death in LBA Greece: the Homeric poems the Iliad and Odyssey, iconographical representations of death, funeral practices and mourning, and the archaeological material itself – the tombs and offerings. In this paper, I introduce the various categories of evidence and draw on them to support an imaginative reconstruction of an event that happened, but which is not recorded in any historical sources – the death and burial of a great king of Mycenae. I argue that using emotion as a lens through which to view the evidence can sometimes allow deeper interpretation and enable fuller historical reconstructions of lived lives and experiences.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

I Will Follow You into the Dark: Death and Emotion in a Mycenaean Royal Funeral

Middleton

2017

Oxford J Archaeology

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“…The condition of the artefacts and the level of fragmentation led the excavators to suggest that the secondary burial deposit had been disturbed by later activity, and in support of this they cited the discovery of medieval pottery and a clay pipe on top of the mound. Whilst this is a plausible explanation, it is also the case that finds of broken objects and fragmented pottery (Grinsell ; Fowler , appendix B) are well documented in northern England, as well as at other Early Bronze Age barrow sites across Britain (for example, Jones ; Woodward and Hunter ), and is possible that their condition was not due to later disturbance, but that they may instead have been deposited as worn objects, having been heirlooms, for example (Woodward ; Jones , 237). The position of the axe‐hammer just below the ground surface and the weathered condition of the hammer end suggest that some erosion of the top of the barrow had taken place.…”

Section: The 1937 Excavation and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited

Jones¹,

Brunning²,

Wilkin

2018

Oxford J Archaeology

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Summary In 1937 a large barrow in north‐east Yorkshire was excavated by Mrs H. W. and Dr F. Elgee. A primary deposit comprising a ‘canoe’‐shaped log coffin and what were described as two ‘log boats’ or ‘canoes’ was uncovered beneath the mound. The burial did not survive; however, the ‘canoe’‐shaped coffin was found to contain an Early Bronze Age Merthyr Mawr‐type dagger, flints and some hazelnuts. Subsequently, a cremation was inserted into the top of the mound. This was accompanied by a Camerton‐Snowshill‐type dagger, a stone battle axe, a copper alloy pin, an accessory vessel and fragments from a Collared Urn. As part of a log coffin radiocarbon‐dating project, one of the hazelnuts was radiocarbon‐dated to 2008–1772 cal BC (95.4%) and a fragment of cremated bone from the secondary burial was dated to 1890–1741 cal BC (93.2%). This paper discusses the dating results and reconsiders the interpretation of the log coffin as a boat.

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“…avant J.-C. a livré un pot à solides et une cruche dont le bec présente une fracture en « V » et dont l'anse est absente (Le Brézet à Clermont-Ferrand : fouilles inédites G. Vernet, étude F. Blaizot) . Enfin, de nombreux parallèles peuvent être trouvés dans la littérature ethnologique, correspondant à autant d'explications ou presque de cette pratique (Grinsell, 1961 ;Maertens, 1979, p. 110-118) jusque chez les Pygmées qui ébrèchent des vases avant de les déposer dans les tombes (Leroy, in : Alihanga, 1979, p. 277) et chez les Inuits qui les percent de manière à éviter qu'ils soient récupérés par les vivants pour leur usage personnel (Saladin-d'Anglure, 1999).…”

Section: Synthèseunclassified

Trois cimetières ruraux de l'Antiquité tardive dans la moyenne vallée du Rhône

Blaizot¹,

Bonnet²,

Castex³

et al. 2001

galia

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The Breaking of Objects as a Funerary Rite

Cited by 34 publications

References 1 publication

I Will Follow You into the Dark: Death and Emotion in a Mycenaean Royal Funeral

I Will Follow You into the Dark: Death and Emotion in a Mycenaean Royal Funeral

Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited

Trois cimetières ruraux de l'Antiquité tardive dans la moyenne vallée du Rhône

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