Modern cemetery excavation requires detailed field recording using a variety of techniques.
The strength of combining remote sensing (magnetometry, soil conductivity) and non-intrusive field techniques (surface collection, soil cores) lies in overlaying the data with excavation contexts and building models based on correspondences in the data. In the image above, the extent of archaeological features and excavation blocks is overlaid with magnetometer data. In the image below from the 2011 season, surface collection data, magnetometer data, and satellite imagery from the settlement area are combined using exaggerated topographic data (x10). In addition to understanding the social makeup of the cemetery at Békés Jégvermi-kert, the BAKOTA project is also interested in making more effective use of non-intrusive archaeological prospection for modeling prehistoric behaviors…
Modern ploughing disturbs archaeological contexts, bringing cultural material such as pottery and bone to the surface. The collection and recording of this material in space is called systematic surface collection. The data provide good overview of different areas of the site, even in the absence of excavation data. Above: A high resolution (4×4 m squares) surface collection strategy – gridded transect collection – is used in the cemetery area to identify the small and low density features such as burial clusters. Below: When plotted in space, the contents of each individual collection square provides a picture of the location and extent of burial clusters.
Shovel testing is a survey technique used when surface vegetation is present. If the land has ever been plowed, a few spadefuls of plowsoil will often contain artifacts suggestive of the underlying, intact, archaeological deposits. If the area hasn’t been plowed, a shovel test must be dug to the subsoil to see if there are any archaeological strata.
The use of remote sensing techniques to aid the exploration and interpretation of archaeological sites has massively changed what we know about sites before we excavate and how we use the available excavation resources. Survey techniques such as magnetometry, soil resistivity, and ground penetrating radar are by now well known tools in the archaeological toolkit for understanding settlements, but their use in cemetery contexts is far less well developed. The BAKOTA project is using a combination of geophysical survey data to identify anomalies in the cemetery and guide the interpretation and excavation of the site.
Skeletal remains from graves (human and animal) are a primary source of information for understanding the relationship between funerary customs and the biological makeup of the community. Skeletal analysis of individuals in the cemetery will determine basic population structure, ideally providing sex, age, and life history of a sample of the population, including evidence for trauma, dental caries, and disease. This will allow us to identify of behavioral aspects, such as fractures from violence and repetitive stress from daily activities.
Human bone samples are collected from both cremation and inhumation burials for future study of ancient DNA (aDNA). Combining aDNA with other information from burials has proven useful for investigating biological relatedness of people in prehistoric mortuary contexts. Although lab techniques for recovering DNA are constantly improving, contamination of samples during field recovery and storage remain important obstacles to effective aDNA study. Bone samples are taken under sterile conditions following standard procedures.
Cemeteries are not only places where the dead are buried, they are ritual landscapes where several different activities related to commemoration of the dead can take place. This may include preparing the body, building burial pyres, and performing various rituals. Sampling of archaeological deposits with a handheld push probe across the site allows us to investigate a much larger area than would be possible using only excavation. Sediment samples are also taken from excavation contexts for later multi-chemical analysis. All samples are characterized based on color, texture and inclusions, and tested for levels of available phosphate (Pav), pH, and magnetic susceptibility. Since fire and ash increase the magnetic susceptibility and pH…
Cremation urns from Békés Jégvermi-kert are sometimes first scanned using x-ray computerized tomography (CT) at a clinic in the Department of Radiology at the University of Szeged (with thanks to Dr. András Palkó, above). CT scans of cremation urns are useful as guides for micro-excavation, as they allow artifacts, bone positions, and sometimes even stratigraphy, to be known before we attempt recovery. Even more important, because cremated bone further fragments during excavation, CT permits measuring critical elements of intact bones before removal, improving chances of assigning sex, age categories and minimum number of individuals, as well as identifying pathologies.
Differences in the funerary practice of cremation can be detected by excavation of burial urns in 2 centimeter spits and measuring the weight and proportion of cremated remains by anatomical regions according to stratigraphic deposition. Close attention to stratigraphy, heat treatment, and duplications of the same bone, inform us about whether the same pyre was used for many individuals from which the second burial was collected or whether multiple individuals were placed in the urn intentionally. View a video to see an example of micro-excavation with a reflectorless total station (and note that music accompanies the video):