Death and Burial

"This paper offers a critical evaluation of the debate on agency and personhood in archaeology. Despite some very interesting and sharp discussions, the debate has suffered from the projection of anachronistic definitions of the person and an over reliance on specific ethnographic readings. In addition, little attempt is made to bridge the abstract theoretical discussions with close analyses of empirical data. I would like to suggest that this should be our priority: to integrate theoretical discussions with careful contextual analysis of different types of evidence.
In the second part of the paper, an attempt will be made to apply these ideas, and to examine notions of personhood and agency held by the inhabitants of the southern Greek mainland between ca. 1800 and 1600 BC. The analysis will be based on the mortuary practices and imagery of the period.

Keywords
Personhood; agency; relationality; Mycenaean; burial practices; imagery"

In 1972 some habit complexes were discovered which belong to Babadag culture. These were dated in VIII – VIIth century B.C. and they were mixed with Greek archaic pottery. Unfortunately, possible habit traces of First Iron Age are very hard to dig because of ulterior buildings. However, in the northern part of trench 001 (N – S) a Babadag complex was discovered in 2000 – 2001. It is a pit (0,80 m deep) that was partially destoryed by a wall built directly on the rock. On the bottom of pit were discovered human remains of 13 individuals:
Skeleton 1, male, mature – senile;
Skeleton 2, male, adult – mature;
Skeleton 3, female, adult – mature;
Skeleton 4, male, adult;
Skeleton 5, female, 16 years old minimum;
Skeleton 6, male, adult;
Skeleton 7, female, adult;
Skeleton 8, male, mature;
Skeleton 9, sex unknown, 17 – 19 years old;
Skeleton 10, female, 23 years old minimum;
Skeleton 11, sex unknown, 8 years old;
Skeleton 12, male, mature;
Skeleton 13, female, mature.
At the same level where the bones were discovered the following objects were found: 1 vessel, 2 iron arrow points, 1 iron fishing line, 2 iron fragments a knife, 2 spinning weights, 1 polished stone object, 1 whetstone. In the padding of the pit were discovered some ceramic fragments from 80 vessels, and animal bones, along with human humerus (right) which suffered burning (from an adult male) and aleft acetabulum from an adult – mature female). These are not part of above described skeletons. The pottery dated this complex in the second phase of Babadag culture.
Pits with human remains and human isolated bones were also unraveled at Babadag, Garvan, Niculitel, Revarsarea (Tulcea county) and Satu Nou, Capidava, Cernavoda, Rasova and Izvoarele (Constanta county). All these mentioned discoveries are placed in the area of Babadag culture. The similar types of complexes were unveiled in contemporary cultures to the Babadag culture in Moldavia, Ukraine, Transylvania, Muntenia, and Bulgaria.
The meaning of these practices has not been clarified yet, but the archaeological and anthropological researches from Capul Dolojman site could be a beginning for better interpretations.
Considering the age, the remains come from 12 adult and mature individuals, 2 teenagers and a child. Seven of them were male, six females and 2 unidentified sex. The skeleltons position, integrity and anatomical connections indicate the state of the subjects when they were placed in the pit:
a. Complete corpses = 1, 4, 6, 8 and 11;
b. Incomplete corpses = 5, 7 and 9;
c. Osteological remains = 13, 14 and 15 (mandible, humerus and acetabulum).
Not being able to fond any traces of bone dilocation by sharp objects we must presume that their state is due to the long exposure of the corpses. There are, however, perimortem traces of violence on skeletons 5 and 6, but they don’t necessarily indicate sacrifice. Even though we cannont explain such treatment of the deceased, the analyses suggest a coherent ritual.
Similar manifestations can be found in the same geographical area at the Geto – Dacians in II B.C. – I A.D. centuries and they may be due to some changes in the religious beliefs.