Heads North or East? : a re-examination of Beaker burials in Britain
This thesis compares burial practices of Beaker-using communities in Britain and provides a corpus of British Beaker burials. Chronologically, this study covers the period from around the 25th until the 18th century BC, from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Beakers were a new feature in late British prehistory and were probably introduced through small-scale migration and cultural transfer. Together with the pottery, a new style of funerary practices was introduced, that was comparable to continental practices at that time and strictly distinguished between male and female individuals. The standard continental practice, e.g. in Bohemia, was that men were buried with their head to the north, lying on their left side, thus facing east. Women were also facing east, but were buried on the right side and were consequently orientated to the south. This particular pattern can be found in southern Britain but is less strict in its application. This peculiar finding has attracted much scholarly interest since its discovery. Therefore, the research of Beaker funerary practices has a long tradition and still forms a core area of research. This study considers two main questions: does the data confirm established
Heise, Marc E.
Beaker ; Britain ; burial practices ; Chalcolithic ; regional patterns
Heads North or East? : a re-examination of Beaker burials in Britain. This thesis compares burial practices of Beaker-using communities in Britain and provides a corpus of British Beaker burials. Chronologically, this study covers the period from around the 25th until the 18th century BC, from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Beakers were a new feature in late British prehistory and were probably introduced through small-scale migration and cultural transfer. Together with the pottery, a new style of funerary practices was introduced, that was comparable to continental practices at that time and strictly distinguished between male and female individuals. The standard continental practice, e.g. in Bohemia, was that men were buried with their head to the north, lying on their left side, thus facing east. Women were also facing east, but were buried on the right side and were consequently orientated to the south. This particular pattern can be found in southern Britain but is less strict in its application. This peculiar finding has attracted much scholarly interest since its discovery. Therefore, the research of Beaker funerary practices has a long tradition and still forms a core area of research. This study considers two main questions: does the data confirm established
north_east re_examination beaker burials britain compare burial_practice beaker using community britain provide corpus british beaker burial chronologically study cover_period chalcolithic_early bronze_age new feature late british_prehistory probably introduce small_scale migration cultural_transfer together pottery new_style funerary_practice introduce comparable continental practice time strictly distinguish male_female individual standard continental practice men bury head north lie left side thus face east women also face east bury right side consequently orientate south particular pattern find southern_britain less strict application peculiar find attract much scholarly interest since discovery therefore beaker funerary_practice long_tradition still form_core area research study_considers two_main question data confirm establish