Panel 1.2 – Wealthy and Healthy? Methodological approaches to non-élite burials


Organiser/Chair:

  • Ute Kelp (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Berlin)
  • Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen (Universität München)

External Discussant:

  • Andrea Binsfeld (Université du Luxembourg)

Panel abstract

Dichotomies are often rejected as misrepresenting the complexities of past societies. This is also the case for the distinction between élite and non-élite parts of the population. In this respect, economical aspects have been considered crucial for the constitution of ancient society: from the determinant for a class-based society to being an oscillation within the stratified pyramidal model of Roman society. In social history current research emphasizes the basic legal inequality in antiquity and a social stratification along the lines of status, honors and life style as opposed to modern time functional divisions. Consequently changes in wealth distribution potentially threaten the social order. Hence income based power relations e.g. performing euergetism may support political integration in a competitive society, but economical changes such as large accumulations result in political disintegration.

This model of social stratification is consistent with ancient sources and related topics in archaeology such as the Roman domus. Yet the analysis of ancient societies beyond the political system, leading actors and élite groups relies heavily on the archaeological record. Abundantly preserved burial sites present a major part of ancient testimonies. But again research on élite grave monuments is rather extensive whilst the evaluation of numerous less conspicuous burials in the Classical world remains wanting.

In terms of methodology quantifications prevailed, which – claiming an often class-based straightforward correlation between dimension and investment to status and wealth respectively – tended to disregard all manipulations of the dead as much as personal choices. Accordingly, the qualitative analysis of graves gained ground taking the social, relational and situational agency into account, but mostly without considering the nature of the postulated urban civic society. Thus, the social interpretation of funerary contexts including grave goods or, generally speaking, of value and its material equivalent in a particular time and place remains challenging.

Applicants are invited to use approaches in various fields of research employing archaeological and anthropological data as well as epigraphical records. Starting points to identify social settings may be health and nutrition, burial practices, variation and standardization in grave monuments, etc. Special interest will be given to medium-range theories taking case-based evidence into account.

Paper abstracts

1. Christian Briesack (University of Bonn)

Tomb and society in Orvieto in the 6th century BC. A study of different grave types
The necropolis of ancient Orvieto are one of the most important burial grounds in Etruria in Archaic times, mostly because of their size and urban layout, which consists of almost identical chamber tombs shaped like large cubes and build along horizontally and vertically arranged roads. Thus, these “cities of the dead” seem or rather pretend to be an image of the “cities of the living” which is why studying related tombs can have tremendous value for the analysis of social rank and society.
Fossa-tombs represent a special feature in the necropolis. This burial practice requires considerably fewer economic investment than burying the deceased in a chamber tomb in terms of space, architecture and grave goods. Therefore it was assumed in previous research that fossa-tombs belonged to the lower part of the Orvietan society. They were viewed as tombs for the household of wealthy families buried in the chamber tombs nearby.
The paper allows a closer look at these humble tombs and opens the way for different approaches to the complexity of the topic. The central question is whether or to what extent economic investment and dimension of the funeral context equal status and wealth in Orvieto. Furthermore it needs to be discussed which methods can be used considering possibilities and limits. Criteria for the research are: location, grave type, burial custom, grave goods and as far as possible age and gender of the deceased and the epigraphical record.

"Tomb and society in Orvieto in the 6th century BC. A study of different grave types" (Fulltext)

 

2. Vasiliki Brouma (University of Nottingham)

The economics of death in Hellenistic Rhodes: the case of the koina
Material evidence and display for afterlife suggest a conscious psychological preparation for death. However, display in the funerary sphere can also be indicative of various socioeconomic agendas in connection to the burial ritual.This paper presents a contextual approach to funerary economics in Hellenistic Rhodes.The focus is a case study related to the koina (associations) of foreigners and their burial provisions.The Rhodian epigraphic corpus detailing these provisions is particularly rich:most date to the 2nd and 1st c. BC and consist of honorary decrees and epitaphs.These texts describe that the members of the associations were honoured as evergetai post-morterm and were commemorated anually through a number of activities (i.e. banqueting) that were organised by the living members.Also, it appears that their status in the group was consolidated in regard to their financial contribution.And although the amount of written sources is remarkable,little do we know about the actual material evidence associated with these burial provisions.In this paper,I will argue that a material-centered approach can throw light on the funerary ritual of the associations and provide a more accurate picture on the economics of these rites.A closer examination of the tombs and the funerary monuments associated with the koina,will enable us to reflect on various economic aspects of the funerary ritual such as individual and collective choice in the socioeconomic setting of Hellenistic Rhodes.

"The economics of death in Hellenistic Rhodes: the case of the koina" (Fulltext)

 

3. Konstantina Chavela (Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports. Ephorate of Antiquities of Achaia)

"Poor" indigenous and "wealthy" Macedonians(?). The evidence of burial practices around the Thermaic Gulf (Thessaloniki)
The archaeological site of Toumba Thessaloniki spreads over a plateau to the east of the city of Thessaloniki. It includes first a conical mound (tell) with layers of the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and historic times, and also a trapezoidal (almost flat) area extending around the mound itself with settlement layers mainly from the Early Iron Age, down to the end of the 4th century BC. In addition, outside the boundaries of the ancient village an extensive cemetery has been identified dating from the 8th century down to the 4th century BC. The mortuary practices of the cemetery throughout its use are defined by a uniform approach to burials as is indicated by the constant presence of single inhumations, the almost exclusive use of pits for the interments, the standard position of extended bodies and the preference of "local" pottery and limited presence of metal objects. However, a range of variables in the funerary process can be detected which somewhat breaks up this picture of homogeneity: these differences may have been crucial to the management and definition of social and other relations. Already in the 6th century BC discrepancies are found. These are more pronounced during the 4th century and may reflect the existence of different subgroups in the community: they may be expressions of different social status or different cultural identities.

"'Poor indigenous and 'wealthy' Macedonians(?). The evidence of burial practices around the Thermaic Gulf (Thessaloniki)" (Fulltext)

 

4. Angela Pancheva (Balkan Heritage Foundation)

Funeral Wreaths in the Context of the Macedonian, Thracian Late Classical and Hellenistic Burial Complexes and the Necropoleis of the West Pontic Greek Poleis. Functional and Comparative Analysis
The proposed paper analyzes the chronological distribution of the different types of golden and clay funeral wreaths, and their symbolical function in the context of Late Classical and Hellenistic burial complexes from the ancient regions of Macedonia, Thrace and the necropoleis of the West Pontic Greek poleis.
In the period spanning the second half of the 4th and the first quarter of the 3rd century BCE, the number of burial complexes containing funeral wreaths increased steadily across the entire Greek world. A large number of outstanding gold specimens and their gilded clay replica were found in the necropoleis of ancient Macedonia and Thrace. Wreathed and “wreath bearing” figures are also represented in the wall painting scenes in some of the most famous Macedonian and Thracian chamber tombs, dated into this period. The functional similarities between the main categories of grave goods from these complexes e.g. metal vessels and weapons, lead to the hypothesis of the existence of a “normalized” burial model in the two adjoining ancient regions of Macedonia and Thrace. At the same time, clay wreaths are also often to be found as a part of the inventory of the burial complexes in the necropoleis of western Pontic Greek cities, such as Apollonia Pontica, Messambria, Odessos, Kalatis, as well as the island Samothrace. In general, these graves contain a small number of objects, mostly represented by locally made clay pots.

"Funeral Wreaths in the Context of the Macedonian, Thracian Late Classical and Hellenistic Burial Complexes and the Necropoleis of the West Pontic Greek Poleis. Functional and Comparative Analysis" (Fulltext)

 

5. Hale Guney (University of Cologne)

Different Grave Types in the Choria Considiana
Choria Considiana was an extensive Roman estate in central Anatolia and its different types of grave monuments belonged to non-élite inhabitants of this rural area, yet prominent within their own communities. In its northern part, today encompassing Mihalıççık County in modern Turkey, an epigraphic survey, conducted in this area since 2014, revealed a number of fifty inscriptions most of which date back to the second and third centuries AD. This county, roughly situated to the northeast of the ancient city of Dorylaion (modern Eskişehir) was part of north-east Phrygia, the ancient region neighbouring Bithynia and under Roman rule part of the province of Galatia. These inscriptions offer new information about the cultural and social status of the inhabitants of this area and provide evidence for the existence of Galatian and Thracian names, local cults as well as the local stonemasonry in northeast Phrygia.
Taking this evidence into account, the paper focuses on three necropolis areas in Dinek, Gürleyik and Otluk villages. While in one case a new group of grave stelai enriches the picture of regional styles in Roman Phrygia, the others present the variation of grave monuments – including doorstone monuments – within a single necropolis. Thus, employing epigraphical data as well as archaeological records, the aim of this paper is to identify social settings in the Choria Considiana.

"Different Grave Types in the Choria Considiana" (Fulltext)

 

6. Maria Stella Busana and Cecilia Rossi (University of Padua) / Alessandro Canci (University of Udine)

Textile workers in the Roman Venetia: from the tools to the skeletal remains
The Padua University has for years carried out many researches on textile economy in Roman Venetia (North-Eastern Italy), an area famous for the wool industry according to the ancient literary and epigraphic sources. After investigating topographic evidence and sheep breeding settlements, the PONDERA Project was focused on a systematic survey of archaeological textile tools found in the region in order to analyze technological and socio-economical aspects. After that, the TRAMA Project was aimed at identifying samples of organic and mineralized fabrics, offering for the first time a real picture of textiles produced in the area. Finally, the LANIFICA Project is now focused on tools coming from funerary contexts to enlighten the ideological meaning and the connection with the socio-economical profile of the deceased, combining both the grave goods and the human remains. The results of these researches give us a comprehensive picture of the textile manufacturing, from the tools to the human beings involved. The new goal is now identifying the ancient textile workers and their health conditions, thanks to the study of the occupational markers and the pathological affects produced by textile activities. In addition, we will try to distinguish the skeletal modifications depending on the different kinds of loom in use. This approach could give an original contribution to the knowledge of both the occupational health in Roman society and the weaving technology in the Roman Venetia.

"Textile workers in the Roman Venetia: from the tools to the skeletal remains" (Fulltext)

 

7. Ricardo Fernandes (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History) / Alessia Nava (Sapienza University of Rome) / Christian Hamann and Thomas Larsen (University of Kiel) / Patrick Roberts (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History) / Yiming Wang (University of Kiel) / Alfredo Coppa (Sapienza University of Rome) / Luca Bondioli (Museum of Civilizations)

A glimpse at the bioarchaeological history of the late antiquity necropolis of Centocelle (Rome): results from a multiproxy approach
Given an emphasis on historical sources the vast majority of the people that lived within the Roman world remain voiceless. In their aid, isotopic analyses of archaeological human remains provide important insights into the diet, nutrition, and mobility of single individuals. Nonetheless, available Roman isotopic data is still sparse and periods of contrasting forms of political and social organization, such as late antiquity, remain comparatively unexamined.
Burials from a Roman villa complex next to the Via Labicana (within modern day Centocelle, Rome) offer an opportunity to reconstruct the lifeways of late antiquity Romans. A pilot interdisciplinary research project was undertaken that included osteological analysis, radiocarbon dating, and multiple isotopic analyses of human remains.
Radiocarbon dates revealed a complex chronology while isotopic results demonstrated that the Centocelle individuals likely lived for several years in the region prior to death. Most individuals had comparatively poor diets with low contributions from animal protein and major caloric contributions from plant foods. Given the limited sampling different interpretations of the results are put forward. Namely, if reconstructed diets reflect a specific socio-economic condition, a cultural choice, or a more general trend towards impoverishment within late antiquity. This provides a basis for future extended research into the lifeways of late antiquity Romans.

"A glimpse at the bioarchaeological history of the late antiquity necropolis of Centocelle (Rome): results from a multiproxy approach" (Fulltext)