Trzciniec Circle Human Remains in Settlement Contexts. Extraordinary Burials or Offerings? Jacek Górski, Przemysław Makarowicz Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte Beiheft 3 (2024) https://doi.org/10.30819/mbgaeu.b45.6     pp: 97-109     2025-01-14

Trzciniec Circle Human Remains in Settlement Contexts. Extraordinary Burials or Offerings?

Stichworte/keywords: Trzciniec Cultural Circle, settlement burials, collective grave, Bayesian modelling, settlement pit

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Abstract
The paper presents the results of studies of Trzciniec Cultural Circle (TCC) societies ‘settlement burials’ from the 2nd millennium BC in East-Central Europe. The custom of burying the deceased inside settlements, mainly in pits, was particularly prevalent in the south-western part of the TCC range. In settlements, the deceased included men, women and children, who were buried in single and collective graves. Both cremations and inhumations were used, skeletons were both articulated and disarticulated, and partial burials were also recorded. The deceased in only some of the graves recovered in settlements were furnished with grave goods. Bayesian modelling of AMS radiocarbon dates for individuals in collective burials suggest that some were used for extended periods of time, as were mass graves contemporaneous cemeteries. It appears as though both forms of mortuary practice – burying the deceased in conventional cemeteries and in settlement pits – reflect the cultural code of TCC communities.