SECONDARY BURIALS

CREMATION AT

KAVOUSI

CRETE

VRONDA,

in

Representation

Symbolic

Mortuary

Practice In honor of G?raldine

C. Gesell

ABSTRACT at Kavousi Vronda, Crete, recovered 107 intrusive Early Iron the abandoned Late Minoan IIIC town. Of these, three cremation in burials secondary amphoras deposited in stone cist graves

Excavations Age were

burials within

that also contained multiple primary cremation burials. The small quantity of bone in each amphora and the recurrence of skeletal elements (bones from the cranium and right forearm) suggest that these burials represent the deliberate selection of particular skeletal parts that may have been transported to the communal graves at Vronda. The author explores the possible significance of these token burials within the larger context of funerary ritual and the representation of the dead.

INTRODUCTION cultures has long importance of burial ritual in ancient and modern been documented, and the present study of a small sample of cremations from the site of Kavousi Vronda in eastern Crete is intended to contribute

The

to this ongoing discussion.1 Many living with the dead in the context

studies address

the interactions

of the

of mortuary ritual, examining the im portance of funerary practice and mortuary space in the collective memory of societies.2 Burial rituals are ameans of connecting living individuals with 1. Excavations

at Kavousi

were

conducted from 1987 to 1990 by the of Tennessee, the University University of Minnesota, and Wabash College under the auspices of the American

School of Classical Studies atAthens and under Day,

the direction

Geraldine

of Leslie

P.

and

the late

C. Gesell,

William D. E. Coulson. Iwould like to thank for her invita Gerry Gesell on the Kavousi tion to work project

?

The

American

School

of Classical

years ago. All of my subsequent as a result in Greece developed and I am pro ofthat opportunity, for her influence, foundly grateful

many work

assistance,

and

support

through

the

years. Financial

support for this project for Ae by the Institute and the Malcolm H. gean Prehistory Wiener of the American Laboratory was

provided

School of Classical Studies atAthens. Studies

at Athens

Facilities

for study were

generously

offered by the INSTAP Study Center for East

Crete

and

theWiener

Labora

Excavations tory. The Kavousi supplied the illustrations for 1-3. Figs. van 2. 1960; see also E.g., Gennep summaries of these issues inMetcalf

andHuntington 1991, pp. 27-37; Gallou 2005, pp. 16-19,112-114; Papadopoulos 2005, pp. 354-355.

MARIA

58

A.

LISTON

the dead and enlisting the good will of the deceased toward the living. The location of tombs and cemeteries is an important part of this relationship, and the inclusion of the dead within particular burial spaces may convey about corporate group membership and identity.3 significant messages Burial practices involving the secondary treatment of human remains may also be closely linked to the role of the dead in society. In the ancient as air temperature and humid Aegean, although climatic variables such a corpse was a stable and would have ensured that ity rapidly reduced to it is nevertheless relatively inoffensive skeleton,4 likely that postmortem would have been a difficult and unpleasant task in both an and physical sense. In some cases, such practices may have been expressions of the social status and persona of the deceased.5 In other societ were not common ieswhere secondary burial and postmortem processing

processing emotional

the practices, however, their performance might also have accommodated burial of individuals whose manner or location of death was atypical. The remains of such burials are not the result of random or ar archaeological bitrary actions; rather, they reflect conscious decisions made by surviving members of the community about appropriate behavior and the expression of social relationships with the deceased.6 The

Late Bronze

located south of the Age village site of Vronda, modern village of Kavousi on the slopes of the Thripti range, above the attest to of these burial settlement was The Mirabello, may practices. Bay abandoned in the Late Minoan IIIC period, but itwas reused as a cemetery from the Geometric (8th century b.c.) through the Early Orientalizing were excavated at the site, and (Fig. I).7 Overall, 36 intrusive graves all contained burials. nearly multiple In this article I argue that three anomalous cremation burials at Kavousi

period

are token representations of the deceased deposited or in cist the aftermath of unusual graves, family possibly

Vronda

in communal circumstances

or

these burials. First, places of death. A number of features distinguish are the at cremations at burials found other Vronda; they only amphora were the site either buried in the cist graves in which the burning took or in without formal enclosure abandoned place deposited buildings.8 In a the burials contained addition, only tiny quantity of bone, less amphora than 20 g in each case, taken from similar anatomical areas of the skeletons. These limited but carefully selected portions of the body may have been considered

to represent

sufficient

of the deceased within

the presence

the

grave and the community. 3. See,

e.g., Morris

1987,

Branigan 1998b;Murphy

pp. 93-96;

1998, pp. 30

32. 4.

Rodriquez

431; Mann, pp.

Bass,

and Bass

1983,

and Meadows

pp. 426 1990,

Fen 1990, pp. 36-39; ton 1991, pp. 27-35; Parker Pearson 1999, pp. 45-56. 5. Nordquist

GeseU,

Coulson,

the

along with adults. The sitional

and Coulson and Day

1988;

1991; GeseU,

Day, and Coulson 1995; Day 1995.

inhumation

the cremated form

evidence

burial was

104-105.

6.WeUsl990,p.l25. 7. GeseU, Day,

8.A pithos from Vronda grave 21 contained

of a child remains

of two

of the grave and depo that the child's suggest

The the primary deposit. adults of the two cremated

is presence an but this does interesting anomaly, a case of secon not appear to represent urn burial cremation comparable dary to the examples

discussed

Liston 1993, pp. 137,141.

here;

see

SECONDARY

BURIALS

CREMATION

AT

KAVOUSI

59

BUILDING M

v^-VIII

BUILDING L

IV '0

VI '.??

BUILDING K

//

(

raig '6l-i,^0i

2

XI BUILDING D BUILDING J BUILDING O

BUILDING

G BUILDING Vf 2 t

.JE" KILN

GRAVE 26

f7/ Figure 1. Plan of the village and Geometric

graves

of Vronda

showing

the locations of graves 26 and 28. R. Docsan

6o

MARIA

A.

LISTON

THE GEOMETRIC CEMETERY AT VRONDA Vronda was

excavated, most of the houses were found to contain Iron Age graves, constructed long after the Late Bronze

When

intrusive Early was abandoned. It is unclear as to whether the cemetery was Age village of established the descendants those who the by previously occupied traits suggests that Vronda hilltop, but an analysis of cranial nonmetric there are concentrations

of some traits in graves found within groups of houses sharing common walls.9 The clustering of these traits indicates a probable genetic relationship among individuals in the graves located in house

suggesting that the burials represent family lineages. A variety of Early Iron Age mortuary features were investigated, and the remains of 107 individuals (cremations and inhumations) were recov

ered.

clusters,

most

The

common

structure

grave

was

encountered

a stone-lined

cist. Other mortuary contexts included pyres, discarded collections of ash cist graves contained 76 (78%) of and bone, and burials in urns. Nineteen the 97 cremations from the village. Each cist contained multiple cremation burials, and in some cases, an inhumation, usually the last burial in the cist. in Greece, Unlike the practice at many cremation cemeteries the burned bones at Kavousi were not normally collected and stored in containers, but were left in place, along with the remains of the pyre and grave offerings. process of cremation reduces the skeleton to calcined bone rather than ashes. The organic portions of the bone structure are consolidated in amanner analogous to firing pottery. Calcined bone is quite stable and The

resists decay much better than unburned bone. In the absence of mechani cal destruction or other physically destructive processes such as freezing, from its condition burned bone survives indefinitely, virtually unchanged when

the funeral pyre cooled.10 or supervised the excavation of most of the cremation at Vronda, ensuring that the positions of individual fragments of graves that bone in the graves were plotted. This plotting clearly demonstrated many of the burials retained anatomically ordered fragments of cremated I excavated

indicating that the cremations took place within the cist graves, after is no the remains were simply covered with stones and soil. There evidence in these instances of further processing or handling of the remains

bone, which

as a part of the funerary rites after the cremation was finished. The were

often

reused,

however,

and

the

earlier

were

remains

sometimes

graves pushed

the grave was reopened.11 While the majority of graves contained primary and disturbed cremations, two cist graves also contained three instances of secondary burials in amphoras. One amphora was placed in grave 26, and two others in grave 28. to the sides of the cist when

9. Liston lected

col 1993, pp. 151-152.1 on nonmetric cranial

the data

traits, which supervision

there

are

clustering

is not yet

complete,

2006.

An

on

but of trait

of freezing

were under analyzed for an undergraduate

clear patterns akeady in these burials.

and Liston

experiment involving repeated of cremated bone and thawing freezing a the author and Ferenc Toth, by grad uate student at Trent is University, that even one episode demonstrating

my thesis

(Swingler 2003). The statistical analysis of the data

10. Toth going

reducing

in is a significant factor size in cremated fragment

It appears that freezing may cause considerable of bone, fragmentation a condition as sometimes interpreted

bone.

the result

of deliberate

pounding

or

grinding (McKinley 1994, p. 339). 11. GeseU, pp. 84-85,

88.

Day,

and Coulson

1995,

SECONDARY

BURIALS

CREMATION

AT

KAVOUSI

6l

m

5 cm

0

Figure 2. Belly-handled from

amphora R. Docsan

burial burial

26,

grave

3.

26

Grave

26 is located to the west of Building G, on the south side of the hill It is one of a group of four graves found in a north-south line measures on the 26 Grave below the approximately building (Fig. 1). slope

Grave

of Vronda.12

2.00 x 1.00 m and is oriented

12. At to

used human

Kavousi,

grave

numbers

any deposit identify bone, and they were

the order vations.

skeletons

in assigned the exca

assigned final analy The sequence

after

sis of the skeletal material.

as accu numbers indicates, as can be reconstructed, the order rately in which the bodies were deposited, the first in the grave. with burial 1 being of burial

13. Gesell,

Day,

and Coulson

1995,

p. 81. 14. Gesell,

and Coulson 1995, Day, is assigned inv. 26.22. p. 81. The vessel 15. The bone fragments from this

grave,

were not photo were studied. They they to the Ierapetra Museum of this in a reconstruction

unfortunately,

graphed when were returned and used grave result, grave

on

display the bones

26

are no

photography.

in the museum. from longer

1 and 2, a subadult less than 16-18 years old sex. These two individuals appear to and an adult, both of indeterminate the cist. Five have been cremated at the same time on a pyre built within cremated

containing

of discovery during Burial numbers were

to individual

were

bounded by stone walls. The north-south, as a result on the west side of the grave is now largely missing wall long of later disturbance. The cist was cut into the ground below the level of the the base of the preexisting walls to the east and south. It contained

As

a

the amphora available for

in

charred

bones

logs

and

of burials

various

grave

were

offerings

also

recovered.13

burial 3 was found

in a belly-handled cremated bone comprising was amphora (Fig. 2) placed in the fill closing grave 26. The amphora corner of the rock tumble fill of the cist. A located in the northwest The

number later

of other

disturbance

ceramic vessels may makes

this

served on the amphora, which

be associated with

uncertain.

probably

There

dates

are

traces

this burial, but of

paint

pre

to the Early Orientalizing

period.14

was broken, with amphora roughly 85% of the vessel having been 9 of It contained bone. Very little additional human g only preserved. all of the soil bone was found in the associated fill even after water-sieving The

and sorting the resulting residue. The absence of human bone in the as sociated soil suggests that most of the bone remained inside the amphora until itwas recovered in excavation. The bone from the amphora is very as parts of the cra the pieces are clearly recognizable fragmented. While nial vault and forearm, itwas not possible to identify the portions of bone more

specifically.15

62

MARIA

A.

LISTON

from grave m Figure ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H??IH shoulder-handled ^1 Oefi) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K:'' and usedasa lid :| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^P?% ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^ftiii .^" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HK?I ^^^IHHI^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HPHI^^^^ grave

';*W^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^E?

28

Grave

28 was

tumble is a

constructed

cist,

rectangular

oriented

roofing material collapsed on west terrace O the of Vronda

north-south,

and

is shown in the foreground.

1.80

measuring

grave contained a total of eight cremation burials, two more in amphoras found in the southeast corner of The amphoras were placed in the grave after the first but before a sixth body was burned over a mations, fill. grave The

S.Hamilton

and wall

above

in room 3 of Building

on burial8.The wereplacedinthe theamphoras

Photo

^^^^VHHil^^^^HHI^I^HH^^^^^Hil^BF Grave

amphora cup fromburial7;and(right) shoulder

(Fig. 1). It x 1.50

m.16

six in the cist and the grave (Fig. 3). five primary cre pit dug

into the

at the same time, although they date The amphoras were deposited were corner of the to different The vessels placed tightly in the periods.17 grave, inside the cist wall, but high up in the fill. A ring of stones held them in place, and they rested on a flat stone slab. Other than the covers of the no

vessels,

other

artifacts

individual

7 was

were

associated

with

these

burials.18

in a small (H. 16.6 cm) amphora with hori on the shoulders (Fig. 3, left). The mouth was closed with zontal handles an inverted monochrome cup. There are no good parallels for the form or decoration of the amphora, but it has some resemblance to vessels dating or to the Middle Protogeometric Protogeometric B-Early Geometric an adult period.19 The human remains consisted of 14 g of bone from Burial

contained

(Fig. 4:a). amphora associated with

burial 8 (Fig. 3, right) dates to the Late was closed with a lid similar to Geometric and period examples from For te tsa that date to the Late Geometric through Early Orientalizing periods.20 It contained 19 g of bone, also from an adult (Fig. 4:b). In both burials the The

bodies of the amphoras were cracked, but remained any bone was lost from the vessels after they were and

none

was

found

when

the

associated

soil was

intact. It is unlikely that in the grave, deposited water-sieved.

16. Gesell,

Day,

and Coulson

1995,

pp. 84-85. 17. GeseU,

Day,

and Coulson

1995,

pp. 86-87. 18. GeseU,

and Coulson 1995, Day, 87. p. 19. L. P. Day (pers. comm.). The is assigned inv. 28.3, and the amphora cup

inv. 28.4. 20. GeseU,

and Coulson 1995, Day, p. 87; L. P. Day (pers. comm.). The vessel is assigned inv. 28.22, and the lid inv. 28.19.

SECONDARY

CREMATION

BURIALS

AT

KAVOUSI

63

human bone

^^^^^^^^^^^HH^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HH^ ^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^P^^^ PhotoHHBHIHHHKh^IH^^^I^^^H^^^^IHHBHbHBHHHH^^H

from grave

Skeletons

The

the very small quantities of bone found in these three amphoras Although limit the analysis, some information can still be gleaned from the skeletal remains. All of the bone in the amphoras was cremated; the fragments the texture and color of thoroughly calcined remains, indicating a lengthy burning process and high temperatures (Fig. 4).21The morphology, size, and structure of the bone indicate that all three individuals were adults, but there were no features preserved that would allow an estimation of age exhibit

at death. None

of the bones were

complete, but the recovered fragments into major pieces, along with a included some that could be reassembled few other unidentifiable fragments. small amount of bone in the Vronda amphora burials contrasts with the amount that typically survives a cremation. For example, strongly a after crematory processing found study of 306 modern skeletons weighed that, on average, 3,379 g of bone were preserved from males and 2,350 g The

an context, between 1,102 and archaeological were the cremation from of bone recovered 2,134 g primary, undisturbed at amount burials of bone?9 Vronda. In light of these data, the tiny g, 14 g, and 19 g?found in the Vronda amphora burials must represent from females.22 Even within

the deliberate

choice, not merely the careless collection, of the cremated a single handful of bone taken from the pyre would weigh than the bone found in the amphoras.

remains. Even much more

from the amphoras also suggests selected for burial and with regard patterning a were taken. In each to the side of the body from which they amphora, one of the either the of the bones forearm, portion of the cranial vault and radius or ulna, were selected for burial (Fig. 5). In grave 26, burial 3, the The

deliberate

21.

Shipman,

and Schoenin

Foster,

ger 1984; Hoick 1986. 22. Bass 902.

and Jantz

2004,

pp. 901

inventory

of skeletal elements both

in the bones

bone consisted of a segment of the right radius and fragments of the cranial vault from the frontal and right temporal squamas. In grave 28, burial 7,

MARIA

64

Grave cranial

26,

burial 3

LISTON

28, burial 8 vault (unidentified) Grave

Grave

A.

28,

burial 7

parietal (unsided)

frontal/temporal

Grave

28,

burial

8

right scapula

26, burial 3 right radius

Grave

28, burial right radius

Grave

8

Grave radius

28, burial or ulna

7

(unsided)

Figure

5. Portions

deposited burials.

the identifiable

bone included cranial vault fragments, probably from the a radius or ulna shaft. It was not and parietal, pieces of possible, however, to determine if this bone was from the right or left arm. The amphora of grave 28, burial 8, contained small cranial fragments, a right radius shaft segment, and a small piece of the right scapula. The bone fragments from the amphoras are not sufficiently distinctive to establish

the duplication of elements that would prove unquestionably in that the remains were not derived from the other primary cremations to the 28. effort find bone 26 and considerable graves joins among Despite however, I was unable to associate any of the bone from the amphoras with fragments from other individuals buried in graves 26 and 28. I also checked for joins with individuals in nearby cist graves located in the

fragments,

same clusters of houses, and here again I found no associations. Therefore, given the absence of joins, the amphoras almost certainly contained distinct individuals, represented by a deliberate selection of skeletal elements not taken from the individuals in the same cist or nearby graves.

of the

skeleton

in the Vronda amphora

M. A. Liston

SECONDARY

CREMATION

AT

BURIALS

KAVOUSI

65

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON SELECTIVE BURIAL ritual is a powerful mnemonic device, ameans of linking the living with the past. Although inanimate, the dead may be seen to participate in and the social actions of the living, affecting survivors through memory Burial

expected

social behavior. The burial is a focus of this memory and collective identity both to ancestry

and an anchor

individual

and locality.23 the remains of

linking In some cultures,

near fields and within locating graves as seen at Vronda, may have been away of invoking previous habitations, an apotropaic function of the dead.24

to transport a deceased relative from the place of death to a family grave. A society that practices as cremation and collective burial might go to consid complex rituals such erable lengths to reunite some or all of an individuals remains with those In this context

it could be considered

vital

of the family.25 The practical problems of transporting a intact. The corpse, however, make it unlikely that bodies could be moved construction of a cenotaph was one solution sometimes practiced inGreece

of other members

burial of the physical remains was not possible.26 As cremation was the customary practice at Kavousi,27 cremating the corpse abroad and the transformed and stable bones would have been another transporting

when

are not collec eminently practical solution. The Vronda amphora burials tions of entire cremated skeletons, but rather a sampled representation of the body that would have been even easier to transport. While

definitive elsewhere

patterns from these

are are indications of similar parallels lacking, there in Greece. Detailed inventories of the selected bones

sites are not

In most cases a very available, unfortunately. small quantity of bone in an amphora was noted, but the material was not analyzed. The Early Iron Age cemetery at Torone provides the best were found in 19 of 60 undisturbed cremation burials comparison. There, urns with less than 100 g of bone; thus, formal burial of small quantities of bone was

common. Two of these tombs were described relatively by as Jonathan Musgrave containing token quantities of bone.28 The skeletal remains in five other tombs, each holding even less bone, were not studied, but

notes

Papadopoulos

that

the

contents

of

the

and in three cases the fragments observed would in the urns.29 the bone deposited

23.

See,

e.g., Gallou

2005,

pp. 24

25; Papadopoulos 2005, pp. 354

25. Kurtz

p. 193;Humphreys 26. Kurtz

pp. 181-182.

and Boardman

1971,

1971,

pp. 257-258.

27. Of the 107 Early IronAge buri als, 97 were pp.

cremations;

Liston

pi. 504;

of cremated

1980, p. 101.

and Boardman

312,

see also Papadopou

los 2005, pp. 134,150-151,189. Tombs 62 and 106 each contained 52 g

355.

24. Kaliffl998,

300,

1993,

185-189.

28.Musgrave 2005, pp. 246,291,

cranial

human

bone,

fragments. and photo descriptions that the postcranial

The

published indicate graph is an assortment material skeletal

including

and postcranial

of various

elements.

29. Papadopoulos 2005, pp. 150 151,154,165-166,214-215;

see also

Musgrave 2005, pp. 294, 303. The

unanalyzed 94, 95, and or

scraps

were

urns

undisturbed,

appear to constitute

bone

from

117 was

fragments.

tombs

described The

all

79, 82, as a few

identified

token burials (tombs 62 and 106) con tain at least

five times

bone

found

in the Vronda

The

tombs

the quantity of urn burials.

with

unanalyzed would appear but it is unknown

from Torone

parallels, were the result of bone

of patterned

fragments.

remains to be better if they too selections

66

MARIA

A.

LISTON

Other Aegean mortuary complexes also attest to the selection of specific in conjunction with cremation rituals. For ex body parts, not necessarily in the Neolithic ample, deposits at Alepotrypa Cave in theMani peninsula of the P?loponn?se, secondary burials in ossuaries included significantly high percentages of skull and limb bones when compared to the expected a similar of elements.30 At Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, distribution in has been observed the of scattered bone, although the pattern sample were not remains deliberate secondary unequivocally depositions.31 These cave sites may indicate a ritualized selection of elements for Neolithic areas of the site, a beginning at very early time near at Minoan house tombs Kalo Chorio Kavousi exhibit period. Early the practice of secondary burial focusing upon large skeletal elements. transport

to the residential

skull and major long bones were placed in larnakes, while hands, feet, vertebrae, and rib fragments remained on the floor surface, where the body apparently remained until the flesh decayed.32

The

evidence and literary references to ancient societies Archaeological outside of the Aegean indicate that itwas not always necessary to include the entire body in a burial. It could be represented instead with an osseous synecdoche.33 In Britain during the Neolithic period, portions of skeletons, most frequently the skull and major leg bones, were removed during the process of secondary burial.34 In northern Europe, cremation burials from the Bronze Age onward seem regularly to have held only a small percent the Iron Age in age of the bone expected to survive cremation.35 During central Europe, there are also partial or symbolic urn burials of cremated bone at a number of sites, although no inventories of the skeletal elements are later, there are further incidences of selective collection reported.36 Much in early Anglo-Saxon burials. Still other examples cultures of India.37 may be seen in contemporary Textual sources indicate that Roman officers who died abroad might of cremated

elements

be cremated, with a portion of their ashes subsequently being for returned burial in the family tomb (Cic. Leg. 2.24.60).38 It is clear from this and other passages inDe Legibus (2.22.55; 2.23.58), inwhich Cicero sometimes

discusses

the older legal traditions of the Laws of the Twelve Tables, that was made between the act of cremation, which does not con

a distinction

stitute a form of burial, and the covering of the remains with earth, which completes the act of interment.39 Roman law directed that a cremated body receive a token burial, either by sprinkling soil over the cremated skeleton, or by a small portion of the corpse unburned for later burial, the reserving os resectum (Varro the Vronda bones were cremated, Ling. 5.23).40 While case was not which the for the os resectum, it is clear that there apparently was

a

long tradition of selecting elements for special treatment, either to or to incorporate those who died abroad complete the process of burial with other burials in the family tomb. 30. A.

Papathanasiou

Papathanasiou

2001, (pers.

p. 3;

comm.).

31. CuUen 1999, pp. 168-169. 32. Haggis 1996; Liston, in prep. 33. Kurtz

and Boardman

1971,

pp. 257-258; Cook 1999, pp. 43-45.

34. Baxter

38. Webster

1999.

35. E.g., KaUffl998, p. 183; Oes tigaard 1999, pp. 352-353; WiUiams 2004b, pp. 418-419,422. 36. Holnerova

37.WiUiams

1978,

p. 127.

2004a, p. 278.

1969,

pp. 271-273.

39. Dyck 2004, p. 394.My thanks to Edward to the

legal

M.

Harris

aspects

me for directing of ancient burial.

40. Lindsay 2000, p. 168;Dyck 2004, p. 394.

SECONDARY

CREMATION

BURIALS

AT

KAVOUSI

67

SELECTIVE BURIAL PRACTICES AT VRONDA seem to exemplify a practice of amphora burials at Vronda would to similar selection those discussed above. The reasons for the differential

The

treatment of these bodies and the use of only a small portion of the cremated with certainty, but the most obvious possibility

bone cannot be determined is that the individuals

represented died away from their home and family tombs. The importance later Greeks placed on at least a symbolic burial of the dead iswell documented If these (e.g., Horn. Od. 11.72; Soph.^i?/.).41 individuals died locally, it is difficult to explain why their burials were so different in form from others in the cemetery. the amphoras themselves offer little evidence for the Unfortunately, or transport of the bodies. are much origin They larger than needed for the remains contained within them. They may perhaps have been chosen as suitable vessels only when the grave was prepared at the site. The amphora from grave 28, burial 8 (Fig. 3, right), is similar to shapes imported from the Cyclades, but it is an Early Geometric form, apparently an heirloom use in the Late Geometric until its burial.42 The other amphoras preserved

41. For discussion

of the critical

for at least a token

need

Vermeide

1979,

pp. 7-8. 42. Gesell, Day, 86, n. 49. Similar

see also

burial, Garland

pp. 3,12;

1985,

p.

and Coulson

1995,

Cycladic-style in large has been found pottery quanti at ties in the cemetery Ayia Prepalatial

Photia, Siteia (Day,Wilson, and Kiri atzi 1998). 43. Cf.Williams 2004a, pp. 277 280. 44. E.g.,

2000,

Hope

45.Wells

pp.

120-126.

1990, p. 135;Gallou 2005,

117-119.

pp.

46. Baby 1954, pp. 1-2; Fenton 1991, p. 30;Williams 2004a, p. 282. (1954)

Baby's

work

on cremation

als from fourHopewell is the first

serious remains

cremated sites.

In it he notes were

examined portions

of the

buri

sites inOhio

to attempt analyze from archaeological that

the 40 burials

incomplete, skulls and

with only long bones

represented.

47. Hope 2000, pp. 113-114; Gal lou 2005, p. 119. 48. Liston

104;McKinley 49. Andrushko 381.

1993,

pp. 89-92,102

1993, pp. 285-286. et al. 2005,

pp. 377

similar to other ceramics from the site. appear to be of local manufacture, It is clear that there is a repeated pattern of selection of skeletal parts in the Vronda amphora burials. In other cultural contexts, it has been argued that the act of selecting elements for use in the burial rites is an important step in establishing social memory. After the transformation of the deceased from a recognizable body to burned bone, the handling, cleaning, and selec tion of portions of the remains may serve to reestablish contact between the were themselves imbued with living and the dead. If the selected elements the end result could be a tangible representation of the specific meaning, in a culturally significant, yet compact and stable deceased reconstructed form. In this process, the amphora may have represented the body of the deceased, receiving this identity through the physical remains of the dead.43

the incorporation

of a portion

of

of human remains has sometimes secondary handling Although been interpreted as evidence for lack of respect for the body once it is no as an individual,44 closer examination of the evidence longer recognizable often indicates quite the reverse.45 Particular symbolic importance may be to the specific elements selected from a pyre.46 Crania frequently are an attention and obvious choice for representing the special as a is in evident the of of the head deceased, practice displaying dispatched enemy.47 The head is often regarded as the locus of the personality, aswell as the focal in the living. Cranial bones are point of personal recognition most the and among largest recognizable fragments to survive cremation, those in the funeral ritual a visual link to the human offering participating ascribed receive

form of the deceased.48 The in many

cultures,

hunting.49 The selection

arms and hands

and they are important

also represent the individual trophies in both warfare and

at remains made by funerary participants a Vronda may attest to similar complex of beliefs and practices. The con sistent choice of elements (skull and forearm) and the choice of the right arm in the two burials in which the side is identifiable, along with the of human

68

MARIA

A.

LISTON

absence of any other bone pieces large enough to be identified, support the of a patterned cultural practice. It is unlikely in the extreme that the seen random selection of skeletal elements would result in the patterning in these three burials. The head and right arm appear to have had specific

notion

were considered significance, and it is possible that these body parts critical elements for representing the deceased in the burial context.

the

SIDE SELECTION IN SACRIFICE AND BURIAL importance of side selection in the ritual activities of the ancient world has received relatively little study. The classic essay by Robert Hertz on the significance of right and left in so-called primitive religions forms the

The

starting point for most subsequent studies.50 G. E. R. Lloyd summarizes the symbolism of the side from Homer and Hesiod's works through the major schools of philosophy.51 He outlines the observation of pairs of opposites, for example, sky and earth, Pythagorean to and distinction 1.5), to apply meaning light and dark (Arist. Metaph. natural and supernatural phenomena. He then examines Aristotle's argu ments

concerning the dominance of the right side throughout the animal (Part. an. 3), along with the assertion that the right side ismore kingdom auspicious than and superior to the left (IA 4). there are exceptions, it is rare for side selection to be iden Although tified in archaeological of Burials with very small cemeteries.52 reports amounts of bone have often been discarded by excavators or ignored by skeletal biologists. Although cranial and long bone elements are often found in secondary burials, specific elements, much less the sides, are seldom identified in reports. The incomplete representation of body parts is often

as a process of collecting the larger skeletal elements simply interpreted or care while smaller ignoring discarding fragments, despite the evident with which the process was performed.53 however, have observed that side selection of front Zooarchaeologists, or back limbs appears to have been important both in sacrificial offerings of or animal portions to the gods heroes and inmortuary offerings, support that the choice of side was significant in ancient Greek ing the contention rituals. The special significance of the right forelimb in ritual offerings in eastern

Mediterranean

cultures

has

also

been

noted.54

In the Early Iron Age tombs from the Kastri settlement on Thasos, animal remains among the grave offerings show a distinct preference for side and specific element; almost all of the bovine and equine remains in the tombs are right femora.55 In the Athenian Agora, Hellenistic pyre de the sacrificial offerings found in industrial contexts?contain posits?small burned remains of the left forelimbs of sheep only.56 At the hero shrine of carcasses burned at the heroon reveal a atNemea, Opheltes sheep and goat from the left side. This preference is distin for elements distinct preference guished from other contexts atNemea where the distribution of elements is random or balanced with respect to side.57At other sites with shrines to the there are indications of a preference for offering gods, particularly Apollo, portions

from the right side of the body of sacrificial animals.58

50. Hertz

1909.

51. Lloyd 1962, 52. For a useful ber of North

pp. 59,61-62,64-65. of a num summary sites where

American

of human postmortem processing remains selection and element has been noted,

see Fenton

1991,

pp. 201-211,

220-229. 53. E.g., Nordquist 1990, 2001. and Cook

p. 40;

Munson

54. Karageorghis 1977, and Jones 55. Halstead

pp. 78-79. 1992.

56. Snyder and Rotroff 2002; Ro troff and Snyder 2003; L.M. Snyder (pers. comm.). 57. MacKinnon 58. Jameson 1996;

2006. 1988,

Forstenpointner

p. 93; Davis 2003, p. 211.

SECONDARY

CREMATION

AT

BURIALS

KAVOUSI

69

that element side selection may ritual involving human remains, and not as has been documented elsewhere. The practice only in animal offerings a as as to the choice of side well may have involved specific elements, similar pattern found in the sacrificial offerings of animals to gods and heroes. evidence

The

from Vronda

indicates

in mortuary

also have relevance

CONCLUSIONS the 107 Early Iron Age burials at Kavousi Vronda, most of which Among were primary cremations burned in situ in cist graves, three secondary cre mation burials were found in amphoras. As discussed above, this unusual form of burial may indicate the inclusion in the cemetery of individuals death was different in some way from the norm, perhaps because it

whose

away from home. the sample is small, the consistent choice of cranial and fore Although arm elements and the indication of preference for the right side suggest that the funeral participants practiced ameaningful pattern of representing the dead atVronda. The selection of particular elements for burial indicates that occurred

a

was ascribed to the head and forearm; these portions special significance have been deemed sufficient to represent the body as awhole. may in other published crema This phenomenon has not been documented in Greece, possibly because small quantities tion cemeteries bone have seldom been saved or studied. In order to elucidate

of cremated the meaning

of this practice more extensively, additional token or symbolic cremation burials need to be recovered and fully analyzed in future excavations. The reconstruction of complex rituals involving the consistent selection of skel a possibly transported from the place of death to communal offers much for patterns of potential family gravesite, understanding social behavior, and cultural beliefs. geographic movement, etal elements,

or

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