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The case study presents completely different interpretations of the same archaeological evidence. Reasons for that are not only the state of knowledge and the possibilities of research, but also the impact of changes in the socio-political climate and varying theoretical traditions. The examples are taken from the Late La Tène settlement Basel-Gasf...
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Context 1
... In May 1940 fighting between German and French artillery was especially fierce on the Upper Rhine north of Basel. While digging trenches at Basel-Gasfabrik to secure the Dreirosen Bridge across the river Rhine, soldiers found a skeleton. Laur-Belart, who was serving in a battalion nearby was called to the scene and supervised the excavation (Fig. 3). Because he ...
Context 2
... at the University of Basel. His successor as head of the cantonal archaeology department was Rudolf Moosbrugger- Leu (born 1923), who between 1964 and 1983 gradually established an administration with excavators and techni- cal as well as academic personnel. In 1973 Moosbrugger-Leu published a new general plan of Basel-Gasfabrik (Moosbrugger -Leu 1973:3ff., fig. 1). Berger commented on this plan in 1974 (Berger 1974/75:71-74) by comparing the part of the site with the wells and the assumed surrounding ditch with rectangular enclosures called 'Viereckschanzen' in south- ern Germany. He argued that Stehlin's wells could have been used as shafts for offerings ('Kult-und Opferschächte'). Following ...
Citations
... The Basel-Gasfabrik site in northern Switzerland, an unfortified proto-urban settlement with two necropolises, was discovered in 1911 and has been under research since (Hüglin and Spichtig 2010;Jud and Spichtig 1998;Knipper et al. 2017Knipper et al. , 2018Pichler et al. 2015;Pichler et al. 2013;Pichler et al. 2014;Rissanen et al. 2013;Schaer and Stopp 2005;Trancik Petitpierre 1996). Both necropolises yielded a total of almost 200 individuals, but it is assumed that many more graves were destroyed during earlier construction without archeological surveillance. ...
... Although the meaning of these contexts is not clarified, the high proportion of adult males may suggest a link to a high status of the deceased. Special offerings have often been found to be associated with such burials, e.g., in Basel-Gasfabrik and La Sarraz-Le Mormont (Dietrich et al. 2007;Hüglin and Spichtig 2010;Schaer and Stopp 2005). There are also clues from isotopic studies that suggested a possible higher social status of men . ...
The Iron Age in continental Europe is a period of profound cultural and biological importance with heterogeneous trends through space and time. Regional overviews are therefore useful for better understanding the main cultural and biological patterns characterizing this period across the European regions. For the area of modern Switzerland, a rich archeological and anthropological record represents the Late Iron Age. However, no review of the main anthropological and funerary patterns for this period is available to date. Here we assess the available demographic, paleopathological, funerary, and isotopic data for the Late Iron Age in the Swiss territory, and summarize the cultural and biological patterns emerging from the available literature. Finally, we highlight a series of research avenues for future studies.
... Geoarchaeological data suggested that settlement pit 321 had been infilled intentionally with dark sediments rich in archaeological finds 5 74 83 16 94 50 69 65 73 8 47 22 31 10 24 3 21 0 0 4 2 2 1 6 8 11 22 25 5 29 17 24 13 32 2 13 12 22 3 3 3 0 0 6 8 2 2 2 12 18 25 11 27 7 50 15 27 2 4 4 (sediment type TSM) within a short space of time Brönnimann et al., in prep.). In addition to more than 13′000 animal bones, which are interpreted as waste on the basis of archaeozoological analyses , the pit contained the complete articulated skeletons of two young men (Hüglin and Spichtig, 2010;Pichler et al., 2013). The humerus and femur of one of the two individuals (samples BGS 6-1 and 6-2) as well as 14 probable animal bone fragments from geoarchaeological samples were assessed histotaphonomically (Table 10). ...
Histotaphonomy has become an important area of research in funerary archaeology. It focuses on diagenetic alterations in bone microstructure and the reconstruction of post-mortem processes. Microbial bioerosion is the most common diagenetic change observed in archaeological bone, and its probable causes have been the subject of ongoing discussions. This paper presents a new integrative approach that combines methods from physical anthropology and geoarchaeology. The aim is to contextualise samples in regard to their sedimentary milieu (sediment type), the sedimentation processes they underwent, and the specific archaeological features they originate from. The analysis is based on 208 human and animal skeletal fragments from the Late La Tène site of Basel-Gasfabrik recovered from various feature types and embedded in different sediments. Both 80 μm and 30 μm thin sections were graded semi-quantitatively on a scale of 0 or 1 to 5 in regard to bacterial attack (BAI), Wedl tunnels (WTI), cyanobacterial attack (CAI), the formation of cracks (CRI), the collagen content (COI), and thermal alterations (HEI). Our results evinced no correlations between the intensity of bacterial attack and sediment types or sedi-mentation processes respectively. We therefore deduce that bacterial degradation of bone is mainly caused by endogenous gut bacteria. Wedl tunnels, on the other hand, are chiefly found in bones from exposed surfaces. Bone collagen content, as measured by birefringence, is dependent on a variety of factors, with thermal alteration being among the most important. Unlike the 80 μm sections used in anthropological investigations, the 30 μm thin sections typically utilized in geoarchaeological analyses permitted a reliable distinction of microbial bioerosion types. Our context-oriented histotaphonomic approach allows detailed conclusions on the causes of microbial bioerosion in bone. Moreover, it provides an important tool for reconstructing the post-mortem bio-graphies of human and animal remains, especially in regard to (multi-stage) mortuary practices and the analysis of sedimentation processes. Thus, this novel approach generates a wealth of information from individual skeletal elements as well as from bone fragments embedded in soil samples.
... Obwohl die Toten in der jüngeren Eisenzeit überwiegend auf dafür bestimmten Friedhöfen bestattet wurden (z. B. Körperbestattungen in Basel-Gasfabrik, siehe dazu Pichler u. a. 2013;Hüglin/Spichtig 2010;Jud 2008; oder als Brandbestattung in Aguilar de Anguita und Luzaga, siehe dazu Álvarez-Sanchís/Ruiz Zapatero 2001; Lorrio/Ruiz Zapatero 2005), war man in dieser Epoche mit vielen Verstorbenen offenbar auch so verfahren, "dass von ihnen kaum etwas übriggeblieben ist" (Müller/Lüscher 2004, 140). Ihre Reste waren, wie aktuelle Forschungsgrabungen in keltischen Siedlungen und Kultstätten zeigen, in unterschiedlichsten Kontexten deponiert worden (in Siedlungsgruben, Gräben, Pfostenlöchern, Brunnen, Heilig-tümern), sie fanden sich entweder im Teilverband oder als kleinteilige Fragmente, ließen Anzeichen von Gewalteinwirkung sowie peri-und postmortalen Manipulationsspuren oder einer mutmaßlichen "Umlagerung" (Wiederdeponierung?) erkennen, waren mit Tierknochen oder Siedlungsabfall vermengt oder in kremierter Form, als Leichenbrand, überliefert. ...
... Outre dans les deux nécropoles (essentiellement à inhu- mations), des vestiges humains ont été découverts au sein de l'habitat : squelettes complets d'individus adultes dans des fosses et dans des puits, et squelettes d'enfants en bas âge dans d'autres structures en creux comme des cuvettes, des fossés ou des trous de poteau (Hüglin, Spichtig 2010 ;Pichler 2011 ;Pichler et al. 2012a ;2012b ;Pichler, Rissanen 2015). Par ailleurs, dans le remplissage de fossés ou de fosses et dans des remblais, on a retrouvé de nombreux ossements humains isolés, allant du crâne complet aux petits fragments (Jud 2008 ;Pichler 2011 ;Pichler et al. 2012b ;. ...
The "Abbaye" site in Ergersheim (France, Bas-Rhin) is located on the west bank of the river Bruche, twenty kilometres west of Strasbourg. In 2011, a rescue excavation was made of a dozen pits in which Jungneolithikum pottery was found. While one single isolated tulip beaker can be dated to the early Michelsberg culture, most of the collection belongs to the Munzingen culture (3900-3600 BC). In one of those pits, a double and simultaneous funerary deposit was found. Field anthropologists deduced that the decomposition process occurred in an unfilled space, followed by the removal of significant body parts while the decomposition process was at an advanced or terminal stage. Such an act is rare in the area, but not unique. A wolf mandible was part of the same funerary deposit.
This paper discusses a group of modified human remains from Iron Age and Norse sites in Atlantic Scotland, several of which have been discovered or rediscovered over the past decade, and all of which have recently been radiocarbon dated. It investigates the ways in which these remains seem to have been recovered, used, modified and deposited by living communities, and what this may reveal about past attitudes towards the bodies of the dead. These practices are placed within a wider European later prehistoric and early historic context, to highlight how this group of evidence may add to current debates surrounding social memory, the ritualization of domestic life, and the place of the dead within the world of the living.
Der vielgestaltige Umgang mit Toten ist ein auffälliges Charakteristikum der Spätlatènezeit. Die protourbane Siedlung Basel-Gasfabrik bietet mit zwei Körpergräberfeldern sowie vollständigen Skeletten und isolierten Knochen aus Siedlungskontexten ideale Vorraussetzungen, Hypothesen zur Totenbehandlung zu entwickeln und zu überprüfen. Die demographische Struktur der Individuen von den Gräberfeldern zeigt, dass hier ein repräsentativer Ausschnitt der ehemaligen Lebendbevölkerung vorliegt. Zahlreiche Kindergräber belegen eine hohe Kindersterblichkeit. Beigaben wie Keramikgefässe, eiserne Fibeln, Glasperlen usw. finden sich häufiger in Gräbern von Kindern als von Erwachsenen. In der Siedlung sind unter den vollständigen Skeletten aus Gruben und Brunnen ebenso wie unter den isolierten Knochen jüngere Individuen unterrepräsentiert. Zahlreiche isolierte Skelettelemente weisen Spuren peri- und postmortaler Manipulationen wie Carnivorenverbiss, Schnitt- und Brandspuren auf. Andere Knochen wurden dagegen schnell einsedimentiert, so dass sich Hinweise auf unterschiedliche Prozesse ergeben, die in den Verbleib menschlicher Skelettreste in Siedlungskontexten münden. Untersuchungen der archäologischen Befundkontexte sowie molekulargenetische und geochemische Analysen sollen Aufschluss darüber geben, welche Selektionskriterien der differentiellen Totenbehandlung zu Grunde liegen. Es soll versucht werden, wiederkehrende Handlungsmuster zu rekonstruieren und Rückschlüsse zu ziehen auf die ehemalige Lebendgemeinschaft in der Spätlatènezeit.
One striking characteristic of the Late La Tène period is the variegated handling of the dead. The Basel-Gasfabrik Late La Tène site has two inhumation cemeteries as well as complete burials in pits and wells and numerous isolated human skeletal remains from a variety of settlement features, making it possible to develop and test hypotheses on the differential handling of the dead. The demographic profile of the individuals interred in the burial grounds shows these to represent a valid segment of the former population. Infant mortality was high. Grave goods such as ceramic vessels, iron brooches and glass beads are more frequent in childrens graves. Among the human remains found in settlement contexts individuals below the age of 20 are underrepresented. Numerous isolated bones exhibit marks of peri- and postmortem manipulations like carnivore gnawing, cut- or scorch marks. In contrast, other bones were embedded quickly. This hints at the existence of several processes which resulted in the presence of human skeletal remains in settlement features. The examination of archeological contexts associated with human remains as well as molecular and geochemical analyses look at possible criteria for selecting individuals submitted to the differential handling. They also aim at identifying recurring patterns of behavior, thus attempting to draw conclusions on the former living community of the late Iron Age.
