The Roman Cemetery of Habturn

Since 1988, a necropole from the Roman period, which was the cemetery of a villa rustica (a Roman estate), is being excavated in Halbturn (Burgenland). Use of the cemetery began in the second century in the form of cremation burials and so-called "grave enclosures". Inhumation burials of newly born children are also assigned to this phase. At the end of the third century the rite of inhumation burial, with a variety of grave types, was adopted. The most recent graves appear to date to the middle of the fifth century and show germanic influences in the archaeological material. The grave enclosures of the earlier cremation cemetery were located by means of geophysical methods. Numerous buildings belonging to the villa rustica were discovered and measured from the air, some of them were also examined by means of geophysical methods. With the help of the natural sciences, it has been possible to reconstruct the environment at Halbturn. The first volume of studies on Halbturn has already been submited for publication. In the course of this project the abschließende excavation campaign shall take place womit ein vollständig ergrabener villenfriedhof.. At the same time, the analysis of this archaeological complex will take place. The catalogue (which is finished till the material of the campaign 2001) and the scientific studies, particularly the examination of the human skeletal remains, animal skeletal and plant remains, as well as the archaeometallurgical and the archeometric analysis of pottery and glas objects, should be completed. An interpretation of the results of the excavation in terms of cultural history will be attempted by Mag. Nives Doneus.

The Roman cemetery in Halbturn was completely excavated during 10 campaigns between 1988 and 2002. The excavation had been funded within several projects of the Austrian Science Fund. In the period between 2002 and 2004 the project was concentrating solely on the analysis of the cemetery. The main issues were the production of a catalogue, establishing the typology and chronology of the finds, and an analysis of funeral traditions within the cemetery. CATALOGUE The finds (ceramics and metal objects) of all campaigns were drawn and typologically described. Special attention was given also to the analysis of architectural remains and coins. The descriptions were input in a database and connected with other information from anthropology, archaeozoology, and archaeobotany. All this information was then compiled on plates, where each excavated feature is depicted together with the drawings of finds and descriptive information. ANALYSIS OF FUNERAL TRADITIONS The cemetery consists of 300 cremation and supine burials. It is oriented in north-south- direction following the Roman field system. Additionally, a large number of other features as ditches belonging to the graves and the former field system, pits, postholes, etc. were documented. Most of the cremation burials are in a pit. Burials in an urn or cists are rare. The graves are surrounded by shallow rectangular ditches. The ditches are sometimes connected and form larger groups. Several of the cremations are not enclosed, some are intersecting the ditches of others giving chronological clues. It seems as if the custom of enclosing the cremations was abandoned during the period of cremation burials. The assemblage of finds differs in each grave, but in most cases, ceramics, jewellery and metal objects could be found. The cremations start in the second half of the second century AD and are taken over from supine burials in the middle of the fourth century AD. The 150 supine burials are located next to the cremations. Some are in the ditches of the Roman field system or of the cremation enclosures, but none of them is enclosed. The construction of the graves differs: (partial) stone chambers, sarcophagus, (partial) bricks chambers, wooden construction or simple pits. The offerings consist of ceramic vessels, jewellery and components of costumes. In each grave, bottoms of in antique time broken vessels could be found. The supine burials lasted until the second half of the fifth century. The organisation of the cemetery shows chronological and social elements. The chronological elements can be seen in the fact that the areas of cremation burials and supine burials do not intersect. Only in the very last phase of the cemetery, supine burials can be found also in the area of the cremations. The supine burials, which seem to be integrated into the enclosures of the cremations, are in most cases burials of babies. The graves differ in location, expenditure of time, in material of the construction and in the offerings. In most cases, graves with a high expenditure usually have valuable offerings and are located away from the others - in some cases, even children were buried in that way. It seems to be interesting, that disabled people were - funerally speaking - partly treated with the same respect as the others. The same is true of the graves of old people. The anthropological analysis shows, that within the supine burials, older persons and children are most frequent, while both women and men between an age of 20 to 35 years are underrepresented. There are indications of stress and degenerative alterations of the spinal column and joints. This throws light on the habits and circumstances of the Roman population. Also, some severely disabled persons could be identified.