Secondary burial

Partially reconstructed tree trunk burial – without burial mound – with a secondary burial in a semi-circular extension (background: centre left)
Detail of the secondary burial. In the foreground is the stone arrangement of the old burial mound. In the background is that of the more recent extension

The secondary burial (German: Nachbestattung or Sekundärbestattung), or “double funeral”[1] (not to be confused with double burial in which two bodies are interred together) is a feature of prehistoric and historic gravesites. The term refers to remains that represent an exhumation and reburial, whether intentional or accidental.

Examples of secondary burial are known from the Paleolithic period, (including the Middle Paleolithic Mousterian culture and the Upper Paleolithic Magdalenian culture)[2] and continuing through the Mesolithic period[3] into the Neolithic period.[4] The mortuary practice is evident into the Iron Age,[5] Medieval Europe,[6] and into modern times.[7] It has been a funerary tradition for cultures throughout the world.[2][3][4][5][6][7] It was used by hunter-gatherer bands[2][3] to large-scale, stratified states.[4][5][6][7] Secondary burial was used by Neanderthals and by anatomically modern Homo sapiens.[8] Secondary burial is a frequent feature of megalithic tombs and tumuli. Secondary burials were also a mortuary custom among many Native American cultures, and peoples of the Philippines.

  1. ^ Duday, Henri, et al. The Archaeology of the Dead: Lectures in Archaeothanatology. United Kingdom, Oxbow Books, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c Orschiedt, Jörg. "Secondary burial in the Magdalenian: the Brillenhöhle (Blaubeuren, southwest Germany)." PALEO. Revue d'archéologie préhistorique 14 (2002): 241–256.
  3. ^ a b c Grünberg, J. M., et al. "Mesolithic burials—Rites, symbols and social organisation of early postglacial communities." Halle, Congresses of the State Museum for Prehistory (2016).
  4. ^ a b c Haddow, Scott D., and Christopher J. Knüsel. "Skull retrieval and secondary burial practices in the Neolithic Near East: Recent insights from Çatalhöyük, Turkey." Bioarchaeology International 1.1/2 (2017): 52–71.
  5. ^ a b c Redfern, Rebecca. "New evidence for Iron Age secondary burial practice and bone modification from Gussage All Saints and Maiden Castle (Dorset, England)." Oxford Journal of Archaeology 27.3 (2008): 281–301.
  6. ^ a b c Weiss-Krejci, Estella. "Restless corpses:‘secondary burial’in the Babenberg and Habsburg dynasties." Antiquity 75.290 (2001): 769–780.
  7. ^ a b c Tsu, Timothy Y. "Toothless ancestors, felicitous descendants: the rite of secondary burial in south Taiwan." Asian folklore studies (2000): 1–22.
  8. ^ Rendu, William, et al. "Evidence supporting an intentional Neandertal burial at La Chapelle-aux-Saints." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.1 (2014): 81–86.