Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:04:49.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Powerful Dead: Archaeological Relationships between the Living and the Dead

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Mike Parker Pearson
Mike Parker Pearson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology & PrehistoryUniversity of SheffieldSheffield S10 2TN
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The dead, collectively or individually, are sometimes powerful forces in human society. At other times they fade into relative insignificance. How archaeologists recover such ideological changes has repercussions for their interpretation of social organization and social change. Interpretations of status, gender, and ranking from funerary deposits are to a large extent dependent on archaeologists' abilities to interpret initially the relationship that the living construct with the dead. This contextual analysis of the Danish Iron Age uses studies of landscape and topography, and contrasts in material culture to situate the changing placement of the dead in society. Their increasing incorporation into the world of the living in the pre-Roman Iron Age indicates a growing concern with lineage and individual status. Later on, within the hierarchical ordering of Roman Iron Age society, the dead retained their significance for the living but in certain regions this was expressed in terms of their communality rather than status differences.

Type
Articles
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , October 1993 , pp. 203 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appadurai, A., 1986. Introduction: commodities and the politics of value, in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, ed. Appadurai, A.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, C.J., 1961. Forromersk Jernalder i Syd- og Midjylland. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseet.Google Scholar
Becker, C.J., 1965. Ein früheisenzeitliches Dorf bei Grøntoft, Westjütland. Vorbericht über die Ausgrabungen 1961–3. Acta Archaeologica 36, 209–22.Google Scholar
Becker, C.J., 1968. Das zweite früheisenzeitliche Dorf bei Grøntoft, Westjütland. Acta Archaeologica 39, 235–54.Google Scholar
Becker, C.J., 1971. Früheisenzeitliche Dörfer bei Grøntoft, Westjütland. 3. Vorbericht: die Ausgrabungen 1967–68. Acta Archaeologica 42, 79–110.Google Scholar
Binford, L., 1971. Mortuary practices: their study and their potential, in Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices, ed. J., Brown. (Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 25.) Washington (DC): Society for American Archaeology, 6–29.Google Scholar
Bloch, M., 1971. Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages and Kinship Organization in Madagascar. London: Seminar Press.Google Scholar
Bloch, M. & Parry, J., (eds.), 1982. Death and the Regeneration of Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R., 1984. The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain: Themes and Variations in the Archaeology of Power London: Longman.Google Scholar
Bradley, R., 1990. The Passage of Arms: An Archaeological Analysis of Prehistoric Hoards and Votive Deposits Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Braun, D.P., 1977. Middle Woodland - (Early) Late Woodland Social Change in the Prehistoric Central Midwestern U.S. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor (MI): University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Breitsprecher, U., 1987. Zum Problem der geschlechts-spezifischen Bestattungen in der Römischen Kaiserzeit: Ein Beitrag zur Forschungsgeschichte und Methode. (BAR International Series 376.) Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, J. (ed.), 1971.Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. (Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 25.) Washington (DC): Society for American Archaeology.Google Scholar
Canetti, E., 1973. Crowds and Power. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Cannon, A., 1989. The historical dimension in mortuary expressions of status and sentiment. Current Anthropology 30, 437–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capelle, T., 1971. Studien über elbegermanischen Graberfelder in der ausgehender Latènezeit und der älteren römischen Kaiserzeit. Neumünster: Wachholz.Google Scholar
Christiansen, H., 1985. Recent excavations and discoveries: 17. Kjaersing, Esbjerg. Journal of Danish Archaeology 3, 217–18.Google Scholar
Doxtater, D., 1990. Socio-political change and symbolic space in Norwegian farm culture after the Reformation, in Vernacular Architecture: Paradigms of Environmental Response, ed. M., Turan. Aldershot: Avebury, 183–218.Google Scholar
Ellis, H.R., 1943. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature. Westport (CT): Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Ethelberg, P., 1986. Hjemsted-en gravplads fra 4.& 5.årh.e.Kr. (Skrifter fra Museumsradet for Sønderjyllands Amt, 2.) Haderslev: Haderslev Museum.Google Scholar
Gebühr, M., 1974. Zur Definition älterkaiserzeitlicher Fürstengräber von Lübsow-typ. Prähistorische Zeitschrift 49, 82–128.Google Scholar
Gebühr, M., 1976. Der Trachtschmuck der älteren römischen Kaiserzeit im Gebiet zwischen unterer Elbe und Oder und auf den westlichen dänischen Inseln, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Funen, Langeland, Lolland. (Göttinger Schriften zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 18.) Neumünster: Wachholz.Google Scholar
Goldstein, L., 1976. Spatial Structure and Social Organization. Unpublished PhD dissertation, North-western University, Illinois.Google Scholar
Goldstein, L., 1980. Mississippian Mortuary Practices: A Case Study of Two Cemeteries in the Lower Illinois Valley. Evanston (IL): Northwestern University Archaeological Program.Google Scholar
Goody, J., 1962. Death, Property and the Ancestors: A Study of the Mortuary Customs of the Lodagaa of West Africa. London: Tavistock Press.Google Scholar
Gregory, C.A., 1982. Gifts and Commodities. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Haarnagel, W., 1979. Die Grabung Feddersen Wierde: Methode, Hausbau, Siedlungs- und Wirtschaftsformen sowie sozialstruktur. Wiesbaden: Steiner.Google Scholar
Hansen, H.J., 1990. Dankirke: jernalderboplads og rigdomscenter. Oversigt over udgravningerne 1965–1970. Kuml 1988–89, 201–47.Google Scholar
Hansen, T.E., 1982. Recent excavations and discoveries: 52. Norre Snede, Central Jutland. Journal of Danish Archaeology 1, 180–1.Google Scholar
Hatt, G., 1957. Nørre Fjand: An Early Iron Age Village Site in West Jutland. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Hedeager, L., 1985. Grave finds from the Roman Iron Age, in Archaeological Formation Processes: The Representativity of Archaeological Remains from Danish Prehistory, ed K., Kristiansen. Copenhagen: National-museets Forlag.Google Scholar
Hedeager, L., 1990. Iron Age Societies: From Tribe to State in Northern Europe, 500 BC to AD 700. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hertz, R., 1960. Death and the Right Hand. London: Cohen & West.Google Scholar
Higham, C.W.F., 1967. The economy of Iron Age Veileby (Denmark). Acta Archaeologica 38, 222–41.Google Scholar
Hodder, I., 1982. Symbols in Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hodder, I., 1990. The Domestication of Europe. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Huntington, R. & Metcalf, P., 1979. Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hvass, S., 1982. Ländliche Siedlungen der Kaiser- und Völkerwanderungszeit in Dänemark. Offa 39, 189–95.Google Scholar
Hvass, S., 1983. Vorbasse. The development of a settlement through the first millennium AD. Journal of Danish Archaeology 2, 127–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hvass, S., 1985. Hodde: Et vestjysk landsbysamfund fra aeldre jernalder. Copenhagen: Universitetsforlaget i København.Google Scholar
Ilkjaer, J. & Lønstrup, J., 1982. Interpretation of the great votive deposits of Iron Age weapons. Journal of Danish Archaeology 1, 95–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, J. 1982. The Prehistory of Denmark. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Jensen, S., 1980. To sydvestjyske bopladser fra aeldre germansk jernalder. Mark og Montre, 23–36.Google Scholar
Jones, R.F.J., 1981. Cremation and inhumation-change in the third century, in The Roman West in the Third Century: Contributions from Archaeology and History, eds. King, A. & Henig, M.. (BAR International Series 109.) Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 15–19.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, E., 1975. Tuernes mysterier. Skalk 1, 3–10.Google Scholar
Leach, E., 1976. Culture and Communication: The Logic by which Symbols are Connected. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, E., 1977. A view from the bridge, in Archaeology and Anthropology: Areas of Mutual Interest, ed. M., Spriggs. (BAR Supplementary Series 19.) Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 161–76.Google Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, C., 1973. Tristes Tropiques. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Lewis, G., 1980. Day of Shining Red: An Essay on Understanding Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, J., 1979. Tre forromersk kaeldre fra Overbygard. Kuml, 109–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mack, J., 1986. Madagascar: Island of the Ancestors. London: British Museum.Google Scholar
Meggitt, M., 1965. The Lineage System ofthe Mae-Enga of New Guinea. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Miller, D., 1985. Artefacts as Categories: A Study of Ceramic Variability in Central India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Morris, I., 1991. The archaeology of ancestors: the Saxe / Goldstein hypothesis revisited. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1(2): 147–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, P.O. & Kaul, F., 1984. Recent Excavations and Discoveries: 45. Priorsløkke, Horsens, East Jutland. Journal of Danish Archaeology 3, 232–3.Google Scholar
O'Shea, J., 1984. Mortuary Variability: An Archaeological Investigation. Orlando (FA): Academic Press.Google Scholar
Pader, E.-J., 1982. Symbolism, Social Relations and the Interpretation of Mortuary Remains. (BAR International Series 130.) Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., 1982. Mortuary practices, society and ideology: an ethnoarchaeological study, in Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, ed. I., Hodder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 99–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., 1984a. Social change, ideology and the archaeological record, in Marxist Perspectives in Archaeology, ed. M., Spriggs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 59–71.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., 1984b. Economic and ideological change: cyclical growth in the pre-state societies of Jutland, in Ideology, Power and Prehistory, eds. Miller, D. & Tilley, C.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 69–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., 1985. Death, Society and Social Change: The Iron Age of Southern Jutland 200 BC-600 AD. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., 1986. Lindow Man and the Danish connection: further light on the Mystery of the Bogman. Anthropology Today 2(1), 15–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., 1989. Beyond the pale: barbarian social dynamics in western Europe, in Barbarians and Romans in North-West Europe from the later Republic to late Antiquity, eds Barrett, J., Fitzpatrick, A. & Macinnes, L.. (BAR International Series 471.) Oxford: BAR, 198–226.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. & Sørensen, M.L., in press. Tradition and change in the 1st millennium BC in Scandinavia, in Europe in the 1st Millennium BC, eds. Taylor, T., Mason, P. & Parr, C.. Oxford: Oxford Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Raddatz, K., 1974. Ein Gräberfeld der Eisenzeit in Schleswig. Teil 2. (Offa-Bucher 30.) Neumünster: Wachholz.Google Scholar
Rahtz, P., 1981. Artefacts of Christian death, in Mortality and Immortality: The Anthropology and Archaeology of Death, eds. Humphreys, S.C. & King, H.. London: Academic Press, 117–36.Google Scholar
Rawnsley, S. & Reynolds, J., 1977. Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford. History Workshop Journal 1, 215–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C., 1986. Varna and the emergence of wealth in prehistoric Europe, in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, ed. A., Appadurai. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 141–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringtved, J., 1988. Jyske gravfund fra yngre romertid og aeldre germanertid: tendenser i samfundsudviklingen. Kuml 1986, 95–231.Google Scholar
Saxe, A., 1970. Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. PhD dissertation, University of Michigan. (Published by University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, 1973)Google Scholar
Shanks, M. & Tilley, C., 1987. Reconstructing Archaeology: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sharpies, N., 1985. Individual and community: the changing role of megaliths in the Orcadian Neolithic. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 51, 59–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorvildsen, E., 1972. Dankirke. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 1972, 47–60.Google Scholar
Thrane, H., 1967. Fornemme Fund fra en jernaldergrav i Uggeløse. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 1967, 67–80.Google Scholar
Tilley, C., 1984. Ideology and the legitimation of power in the middle Neolithic of southern Sweden, in Ideology, Power and Prehistory, eds Miller, D. & Tilley, C.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 111–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trolle-Larsen, T., 1989. Jernaldergravpladsen ved Vogn: en arkaeologisk-osteologisk undersøgelse. Kuml 1987, 105–63.Google Scholar
Turner, V., 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Ucko, P., 1969. Ethnography and archaeological interpretation of funerary remains. World Archaeology 1, 262–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Gennep, A., 1960. The Rites of Passage. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Voss, O. & Ørsnes-Christensen, M., 1948. Der Dollerupfund. Ein Doppelgrab aus der romischen Eisenzeit. Acta Archaeologica 19, 209–72.Google Scholar