Within central southern England one tradition is now well studied - the ‘Pit Tradition’ (Wait 1985; 83-121; Whimster 1981; 4-36; Hill forthcoming). This tradition may be briefly described as the deposition of either whole or partial bodies in the nearly ubiquitous grain-storage pits found on sites on chalk hills and river terrace gravels. Up to six categories of burials may be distinguished depending on the number and treatment of individuals buried. It is, however, very difficult to assess what population these burials represent. Since these are the only type of burial known from this area for the whole of the Iron Age, It Is tempting to conclude that they are in some way ‘normal’, but this simply Is not convincing. On sites where It is possible to devise at least an order-of-magnitude estimate for the site’s population through time, and then compare the number of expected burials with those found in the Pit Tradition, it is clear that the known burials represent a very small minority of the population, perhaps no more than 5 per cent. Furthermore, on most of the sites and for most of the period, few infants and children are represented although they should be numerically dominant. However, by the last century BC infants do become more common. Males and females are usually equally well represented.
The categories Into which the range of burials may be divided also change in popularity through time. During the Early Iron Age most human remains occur as single bones, whereas by the end of the Iron Age, single complete Inhumations predominate. Most are placed on the left side in a crouched or tightly flexed position, oriented with head between north and south-east. The partial bodies are always a rare occurrence, and are much more likely to occur on hill-forts than on other forms of settlement, and more likely to include juveniles and adolescents than the other categories.
These trends may be illustrated by examples at two recently well-excavated sites: the Hampshire hill-fort of Danebury, and the open village at Stanton Harcourt Gravelly Guy in Oxfordshire (Figures 26.1 and 26.2). At Danebury at least seventy individuals (from the 23 per cent of the site excavated) were represented by burials either complete or in a variety of partial states (Walker in Cunllffe 1984; 442-63). Most of the burials were found in the large pits usually interpreted as for grain storage but later reused for refuse disposal. This interpretation about refuse disposal has been challenged by J. D. Hill (forthcoming), whose detailed analyses of the pit contents suggest that the contents of many. If not most, pits were not normal rubbish, but rather follow discernible rules and may be better interpreted as ritual disposal.
The complete Inhumations at Danebury number 25 Individuals, comprising ii adult males, 5 adult females, 2 children over 10 years, 2 children aged 5 to 10 years, and 5 Infants. Fourteen of these were solitary burials, there was one double burial, two triples and two ‘charnel pits’ with larger mixed groups of corpses. All but one of the burials were crouched or flexed, and only one was extended. The tightly flexed bodies may have been bound prior to burial. The orientations vary widely, but a distinct preference for heads to the north is apparent. In addition there is a variety
Figure 26.1 Burial of a 35-year-o)d woman from the middle iron age occupation at Stanton Harcourt Gravelly Guy, Oxon. (Photo: Lambnck.)
Figure 26.1 Inhumation burials: deposits 28, i% 30 in P829, Danebury. (Photo: Mike Rouillard, Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University.)
Of partial bodies and skulls, and numerous single (complete or fragmentary) bones, with skull fragments and longbones from the right side of the body predominating.
The iron age site at Stanton Harcourt Gravelly Guy on the river Thames gravel terraces in Oxfordshire appears to be a typical open, undefended agricultural village during the Iron Age, with continued occupation from the Middle Iron Age into the early Roman period (Lambrick forthcoming). At least 70 individuals are represented, of whom ji are infants (Wait In Lambrick forthcoming). There were 18 complete inhumations (23 infants, t child of 4-j years, 3 adult females and i adult male), i single skull (an adult male), and 28 occurrences of infant bones (at least some of which are unrecognized burials), i adult male and i adult female longbone, and 11 unsexed adult bones. The adult burials were crouched, with 3 on the right side and
1 on the left, and among the infants 6 were crouched on the right and 3 on the left. Ten of the burials were placed with heads to the north (between north-west and north-east) and five with heads to the south.
The interpretation of the burials in the Pit Tradition is far from straightforward. The burials represent a small minority of the parent population, selected along criteria favouring adults but later broadened to include infants. Within this minority, several subgroups may be distinguished. Their characteristics do not match those of social or political elite minorities known from ethnographic study; such minorities are usually distinguished by burial with grave goods (indicative of their position) within restricted cemetery areas. Another possible minority group would be the victims of human sacrifice. It is certain that the Celts did practise human sacrifice (Caesar, Strabo, Lucan and Tacitus all mention the practice with a variety of details relating to method employed; see Wait 1985; 118-20, 235-45; Ross 1967), and it seems possible that the partial burials with overtones of violence and dismemberment are the results of sacrificial rites. The most likely explanation for most of these burials is that they are the remains of abnormal, outcast members of Celtic society. Within the ethnological literature, outcast groups usually receive a non-normative treatment of the body, a different mode of disposal, a different place of disposal, frequently associated with social rubbish and dirt, and rarely have a normal age/sex distribution - all true of the Pit Tradition. It is as if every effort had been made to differentiate these people from the social majority of ‘normal’ people, who may have been either cremated or had their corpses exposed, and then been disposed of either far from settlements or in rivers (Wait 1985: 118-20).
A major underlying theme is that the burials represent a belief in death as a transitional period (not an event) intervening between this world and the Otherworld. During this period the body and the soul are formless and stateless, objects of dread. This period is terminated with a formal ceremony marking the arrival of the soul in the Otherworld (Wait 1985: 235-45). The souls of those individuals denied the normal mortuary rite were prevented from following the normal after-death course, thus maintaining the purity of a society’s Otherworld.
Who were these outcasts? A specific answer is probably unattainable, but a number of suggestions may serve as the basis for further investigation. In the ethnographic literature (e. g. the Asante), outcast people are defined either by life style or by type of death. Abnormal life styles include witches, sorcercers, criminals (especially murderers), religious heretics, and practitioners of ritually proscribed occupations. Abnormal deaths include drowning, murder, suicide, lightning, death in childbirth, or death outside the social group’s territory.
It is interesting to speculate that if the Pit Tradition burials are abnormal burials consciously distinguished from the normal, then some of their characteristics may be a reversal of the social norm. For example, if these are usually buried on the left side, does this mean that the right side was considered favourable? If these are oriented to the north-east, what was the favoured direction? Was the placing of the bodies or body parts in a pit deliberately differentiated from a normal disposal by cremation or exposure, both of which methods would represent a clean, above-ground, or airy aspect? All of these extrapolations may be paralleled elsewhere in Celtic settlement structure and layout, and in ritual associations found in the Celtic vernacular literature.
Durotriges of Dorset
The Durotriges pf Dorset on the southern coast of Britain appear to have adopted a new, possibly normative burial rite at the very end of the first century BC, which endured until it was replaced by the romanized cremation rite a century or so later (Whimster 1981: 37-59). The rite adopted was burial in simple earthen graves (and exceptionally in graves lined with stone to form a cist), and the regular provision of a limited but distinctive range of grave goods (Figure 26.3).
Burials seem to have been in defined cemeteries, probably with internal ordering (perhaps by family?). The corpses were usually placed in a flexed position, on the right side - placement on the left in 20-25 cent of burials seems a deliberate variation - and oriented with heads between north-east and south-east. The age range excludes infants and young children but is otherwise ‘normal’, with both sexes represented. Grave goods most often include a restricted range of locally produced ceramic vessels, and less often joints of meat (beef with males, pig with females, and sheep with either sex), and very occasionally personal ornaments such as brooches or bracelets.
The general impression is of a fairly egalitarian distribution, with a low level of
Figure 26.3 Distribution of Durotrigian inhumations in southern Dorset. (After Whimster
1981: fig. 15.)
Social distinction replicated in grave goods. There are several notable exceptions. One is the well-known warrior burial from Whitcomb near Dorchester. This was a muscular young manin his twenties placed in typical position and orientation, but buried with a La Tene III sword, a La Tene II brooch, bronze belt-hook, and other subsidiary tools and weapons (cf. Whimster 1981: 50-1, 129-46). Equally exceptional are two cist-grave burials with mirrors from near Portland, and a third (of an elderly woman?) from Bridport - such mirrors were almost certainly family heirlooms of considerable age when buried.
This tradition superficially resembles what most modern observers would expect from a normative rite (the chronic absence of infants from the assemblages is commonly and probably correctly dismissed, as infants are very often not considered part of society until they survive a period of time and are ‘baptized’). There are, however, very real problems with this conclusion. The principal problem is simply one of numbers - there are too few burials known. This could, of course, be a function of modern archaeological work, and Whimster makes this point (1981, 37), but even the more recently excavated examples are small clusters of burials. The strong suspicion must remain that this is in fact a burial rite adopted by or applied to only a sector of the population. The presence of grave goods may rule out a denigrated minority such as that represented in the Pit Tradition, but it may be either a social elite, or some other grouping such as a clan or lineage which for reasons unknown adopted a new rite.
Aylesford-Swarling Cremations
An apparently normative rite was introduced or adopted in Kent and the north Chiltern areas in the mid-first century BC, and thereafter spread to adjacent areas of eastern England (Figure 26.4). This is the much-discussed Aylesford-Swarling or ‘Belgic’ cremation tradition. One of its most controversial aspects is whether or not it represents an intrusive tradition - are these the invaders from Gaul recorded by Caesar? The literature on the subject is voluminous (cf. Stead 1976 and Whimster 1981; 147-66).
The Aylesford-Swarling rite appears in an early phase called ‘Welwyn’ c.50-40 BC (after Stead 1976) and later gains momentum in a ‘Lexden’ phase c. 15-10 BC and merges into the early romanized tradition of cremation in the later first century AD. The rite involves cremation of the corpse (usually off-site but occasionally in the grave) and the collection of the calcined remains for burial, usually in a ceramic pot but alternatively in a simple pit or in a bucket of wood and metal. The graves cluster in cemeteries, usually very small but ranging up to the extraordinary King Harry Lane cemetery at St Albans (Stead and Rigby 1989) with over 472 burials. In the larger cemeteries there appears to be an internal arrangement of clusters, perhaps representing families or lineages.
Aylesford burials are frequently furnished with grave goods, the most frequent being a single pot (about 63 per cent of graves) derived from a restricted range of beakers or similar vessels. The vessels are stylistically derived from the Champagne-Ardennes and Normandy-Picardy areas of northern France (thus giving rise to the invasion hypothesis). A second tier of burials can be distinguished, furnished with
Figure 26.4 Distribution of Aylesford-Swarling cremations in south-eastern England. (After
Whimster 1981: fig. 52.)
One to five pots or La Tene bow brooches, usually interpreted as belonging to a wealthier social group. In addition there are burials in wooden staved buckets, often provided with other valuable objects including imports. At the apex of this apparent pyramid is the Welwyn burial class, of unurned remains accompanied by an extraordinary range of imported amphorae, and bronze and silver vessels indicative of drinking and feasting, plus many items of locally produced wealth. More subtle variations in the size of grave pits, placement of remains within the pits, and distribution of goods within cemeteries may be suspected (e. g. Fitzpatrick 1991).
The King Harry Lane cemetery of 472 excavated burials Is undoubtedly a major new source of information for study. This is interpreted as the cemetery for a stable population of about 200 people. However, the excavated sample is biased 3 to i in favour of males, and as usual contains very few pre-adults. This skewed sample Is explained as a result of adoption of the rite by a particular (male-dominated) social group, later widened to include women and children m the Roman period. While this Is certainly possible, it does reflect other peculiarities of the overall tradition. The vast majority of Aylesford cemeteries are clusters of less than a dozen burials, which cannot possibly represent stable populations. The Aylesford rite as presently documented appears to be one adopted by a social minority.
The Yorkshire Arras Tradition
Eastern Yorkshire presents a reversal of the typical British pattern, by containing a prolific burial record but a settlement record still largely unexplored (Whimster 1981: 75-128; Stead 1979). The burial record also presents another controversial example of possible migration/invasion. Sometime during the third/fourth century BC a tradition of burial appears on the Yorkshire Wolds (Figure 26.5) that bears many similarities with a contemporary shift in burial rites in the Champagne/Marne area of northern France, among people later known as Parisi. By the time of Caesar’s invasion of Britain, the people of eastern Yorkshire were also known as Parisi.
The innovative burial tradition consists of burial underneath a barrow and surrounded by a square quarry ditch. Barrows vary greatly in size, and are often arranged into long linear barrow cemeteries. Burials were generally in a tightly flexed position, accompanied by a range of grave goods. The dead vary in apparent wealth and status from commoners with few grave goods to warriors with weapons to ‘chieftains’ buried with two-wheeled carts or chariots (Figure 26.6). Secondary burials were inserted into either the barrow or more commonly into the fill of the quarry ditches. Males and females appear in relatively equal numbers, though young children or infants are underrepresented. The square barrows were reserved for
Figure 26.5 Distribution of square barrows recorded as crop-marks in eastern Yorkshire.
(After Whimster 1981: fig. 31.)
Adults of either sex - there is a small number of variant graves including simple flat graves and multiple (possibly familial) burials.
While nearly all the burials were crouched, a minority were placed in an extended position. This presents one point of variance from the possible continental homeland - Marnian burials are normally extended with heads to the west (see p. 505 below). About 80 per cent of the burials were placed on their left side, with a minority of 20 per cent on the right side. Overall, about 70 per cent of the burials are placed with the head between north and north-east, with about 25 per cent buried with head to the south to south-west. The remainder are oriented east to west (with head to the east). Interestingly, the east-west burials are nearly always in an extended position rather than crouched. Such variations in position, orientation or preferences for left or right sides show no apparent correlation with age or sex. Thus the minorities represented are interpreted as normal social sub-groups.
The majority of Arras burials were accompanied by grave goods. These consisted of personal bronze jewellery, pottery vessels (small coarseware jars) and joints of pig meat. The extended burials have a distinctive inventory of goods, usually of iron (the jewellery with crouched burials is universally of bronze). This includes some burials of warriors with short swords and spears, as well as a variety of tools. The extended burials are not associated with ceramic pots, pig bones or personal ornamants.
At the top of the apparent range is a number of burials with two-wheeled carts or chariots (van Endert 1986). The carts are known from their iron fittings and wheel rims, and bronze horse trappings, and were usually dismantled for burial (whereas Marnian carts are usually complete). In the Arras tradition, cart-burials usually contain few subsidiary grave goods.
The Arras pottery is a local product, but the metalwork shows clear inspiration from northern France, albeit in very simple style and range. Most are in La Tene II style, but curiously appear not in the earliest series of burials but rather in a second phase. This may be interpreted as the second and third generations of an immigrant group burying family heirlooms, and thereafter carrying on with locally produced items.
Some speculation concerning this tradition may be hazarded in advance of the definitive excavation reports. The extended burials with iron objects including weapons may represent warriors. The crouched burials represent the majority of the population, subdivided by the use of body position and orientation into four subgroups. What is missing is the socially abnormal group so prominent in the surrounding traditions: if they existed they clearly received some other, archaeologically invisible form of disposal.
World History
