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Classification and Analysis of Archaeological Contexts for the Reconstruction of Early Romano-British Cremation Funerals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2010

Jake Weekes
Jake Weekes
Affiliation:
Classical and Archaeological Studies, University of Kent, jake.weekes @kent.gov.uk
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Abstract

This paper reassesses analytical categories commonly used to reconstruct the ‘funerary sequence’ of cremation and associated deposition in early Roman Britain, looking in particular at pre-pyre and pyre activity, burial, and other forms of primary deposition. In order to develop a clearer picture of the actual contexts of ceremonial performance and installation, and even to begin to disentangle the manifold meanings these events would have held for original participants, it is first necessary to refine a ‘forensic’ approach to the data, remaining constantly aware of how our own assumptions about funerary behaviour can heavily influence what we think we see in the archaeological record.

Keywords

ROMANO-BRITISH COASTAL TRADEROMAN PORTROMAN SMALL TOWNTRANS-SHIPMENTWETLANDSSOMERSETSEVERN ESTUARY
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 39 , November 2008 , pp. 145 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Jake Weekes 2008. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

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