Το νεκροταφείο εκτός των τειχών της βυζαντινής Μαρώνειας : βιοαρχαιολογική ανάλυση και ταφικά έθιμα
Part of : Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και στη Θράκη ; Vol.20, No.1, 2006, pages 31-39
Issue:
Pages:
31-39
Parallel Title:
The extra mural cemetery of byzantine Maroneia : bioarchaeological analysis and burial customs
Author:
Abstract:
The present analysis concerns the human skeletal remains from the extra mural cemetery at the Byzantine city of Maroneia (Rodopi, Northern Greece). The aim is to attempt the reconstruction of the biological profile of the sample and examine the burial structures in order to propose hypothesis on the topographic and chronological evolution of the funerary space during the Byzantine era. The sample comprises 36 individuals included in single and double primary burials. Age at death and sex distribution for the 32 adults indicates that most men and women had an advanced age at the moment of their death. Additionally, three out of four subadults were over 4 years old. There seems to be a correlation between the advanced age of the individuals and some paleopathological lesions on teeth and bones. Furthermore, different nutritional habits seem to have been adopted according to the age at death and the sex of the individuals.The sample includes a female mature individual presenting particular morphological features on the skull. According to the analysis on specimens around the world, it seems that this woman had experienced a voluntary, artificial cranial deformation. In addition, this is the only adult with multiple fractures on the axial and appendicular skeleton, variation in the number of presacrai vertebrae and fusion of the intermediate and distal foot phalanges of the fifth row. The presence of this specimen in the cemetery of the Northern Aegean offers the possibility to discuss the social mixture of the Byzantine city of Maroneia during the migration period, not before the 5th century AD. Further analysis of the skeletal remains from the intra and extra mural cemeteries and the ongoing excavation in the site as a whole, will allow studying a more representative sample and proposing hypothesis on the biology and the burial customs of the Byzantine people from Maroneia.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
νεκροταφεία, τάφοι, ανθρώπινα λείψανα, Μαρώνεια
Notes:
Περιέχει γραφήματα
