Cemeteries and burial practice in the western provinces of the Roman Empire to c. A.D.300
Mortuary practices in the western provinces of the Roman Empire up to c.A.D. 300 are considered in the context of recent work in other areas on the archaeological interpretation of mortuary remains. Regional surveys of Britain, Gaul and the western Mediterranean give the background for detailed analyses of large samples of excavated data by quantitative means. There are few examples of cemeteries excavated on a large enough scale to provide truly satisfactory samples at least of urban mortuary populations and where full research has been done on the dating of individual graves and on the skeletal material. However, it has been possible to isolate detailed chronological changes in burial practices at particular places and also to distinguish differences within cemeteries and between contemporary cemeteries. It is argued that there were strong local traditions for communities using individual cemeteries, as well as at a regional level, but that within those traditions there were other variations which can best be explained as related to social factors. The applicability of this interpretation is restricted by the lack of satisfactory palaeodemographic studies, but the case for a social explanation to variations
Jones, Richard F. J.
Archaeology
Cemeteries and burial practice in the western provinces of the Roman Empire to c. A.D.300. Mortuary practices in the western provinces of the Roman Empire up to c.A.D. 300 are considered in the context of recent work in other areas on the archaeological interpretation of mortuary remains. Regional surveys of Britain, Gaul and the western Mediterranean give the background for detailed analyses of large samples of excavated data by quantitative means. There are few examples of cemeteries excavated on a large enough scale to provide truly satisfactory samples at least of urban mortuary populations and where full research has been done on the dating of individual graves and on the skeletal material. However, it has been possible to isolate detailed chronological changes in burial practices at particular places and also to distinguish differences within cemeteries and between contemporary cemeteries. It is argued that there were strong local traditions for communities using individual cemeteries, as well as at a regional level, but that within those traditions there were other variations which can best be explained as related to social factors. The applicability of this interpretation is restricted by the lack of satisfactory palaeodemographic studies, but the case for a social explanation to variations
cemeteries burial_practice western_province roman_empire mortuary_practice western_province roman_empire cad consider context recent_work area archaeological_interpretation mortuary remain regional_survey britain gaul western_mediterranean give background detail_analysis large_sample excavate data quantitative mean example cemetery excavate large enough scale provide truly satisfactory sample least urban mortuary population full date individual graf skeletal_material however possible isolate detail chronological_change burial_practice particular place also distinguish difference within cemetery contemporary cemetery argue_strong local tradition community use individual cemetery well regional_level within_tradition variation best_explain related social_factor applicability interpretation restrict lack satisfactory study case social explanation variation