9-18

Manipulating the Dead : A Burial Area at the Neolithic Settlement of Avgi, Kastoria, NW Greece

• Στρατούλη, Γεωργία
• Τριανταφύλλου, Σεβαστή
• Κατσικαρίδης, Νίκος
• Μπεκιάρης, Τάσος

The picture o f the Neolithic in Northern Greece has been enriched in the last few years by a significant variability in the treatment o f the deceased, involving single and multiple burials o f primary orsecondary modes o f disposal as well as cremations and human bones scattered in communal areas o f the settlements. In most cases, the burials are strongly related to the built environment of the living community. This paper presents a group often burial pots located in a central open space o f the Neolithic settlement at Avgi (5th millennium). Each pot accommodated a very small amount o f heavily burnt human bones. The burial ritual comprised several stages, which involved the cremation o f the deceased, the placement o f the burnt skeletal remains into the funerary pots and their cover with rows of large pottery sherds forming small tumuli. The presence of a small group of burial pots containing a tiny amount of burnt human remains is discussed in relation to the identity of the people represented but also to their role as to kens of memory by creating close links between the living community and the ancestral past.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

Καστοριά, Νεολιθική εποχή

Το άρθρο περιέχει εικόνες.