Unlocking the secrets of cremated human remains

In the Late Bronze Age (c. 1300800 BC), large cemeteries with several hundred burials reflect a new way of dealing with the dead: cremation. The new mode of burial, a dramatic increase in the burial record and the expansion of settlement areas into new landscapes indicate population increase, possibly linked to large-scale population movements. Until recently, understanding peoples geographic origin and mobility in the Late Bronze Age was hindered by limitations of analytical methods for cremated bones. New bio-archaeological methods such as strontium isotope analysis can now be applied to burnt bone to differentiate locals from foreigners and to track individual mobility and movements of groups. In addition, new techniques of ageing, sexing and dating cremated human remains have been developed. These offer fresh opportunities to reconstruct ritual practices and individual life histories, which allow the investigation of gendered mobility and family relations in the Late Bronze Age. Women might have played a significant role in shaping Late Bronze Age societies through marriage and kinship networks; higher levels of mobility in women might suggest patrilocal residence patterns. This project is the first in Austria to utilize a multi-science approach to investigate whether or not 1) the change of burial rites at the onset of the Late Bronze Age was a local development or triggered by newcomers; 2) the deposition of cremated human bones took place directly after cremation, or if remains of ancestors were curated; 3) gendered patterns of migration can be detected and explained, and 4) individuals buried together grew up in the same or different environments. Methods include strontium isotope analysis of human remains and comparative environmental samples to identify local and non-local individuals; osteological age and sex assessment of cremated human remains; tooth cementum annulation analysis to support age assessment; as well as gender, age and status analysis based on grave goods to understand how identity categories intersect with aspects of mobility. The study is based on the cemeteries of Getzersdorf, Inzersdorf, Franzhausen-Kokoron and Statzendorf in the Lower Austrian Traisen river valley, which include over 1000 burials spanning the entire trajectory of the Late Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age (c. 1300600 BC). In order to track social changes through time, a chronological framework for the Late Bronze Age will be established by combining artefact-based and radiocarbon dating of selected funerary contexts. Data obtained in this project will significantly advance our knowledge of ritual practices, gendered mobility and social relations during the Late Bronze Age in Lower Austria as well as develop a bundle of much-needed methods to unlock the secrets of cremated human remains.

Large cremation cemeteries with several hundred burials reflect a new way of dealing with the dead in the Late Bronze Age. The limitations of analytical methods for cremated human remains have hindered our understanding of the geographical origins and mobility of people. In this project, we developed new techniques for estimating age and sex and applied state-of-the-art analytical techniques such as strontium isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating, CT scanning, dental cementum annulation analysis and histological approaches to cremated human remains. The study, based on the cemeteries of St. Pölten, Unterradlberg, Getzersdorf, Inzersdorf, Franzhausen-Kokoron, and Statzendorf in the Traisen Valley of Lower Austria, comprises over 1,000 burials spanning the entire period from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age (ca. 1400-450 BC). We collected osteological data from all human burials, examined animal and plant remains, and analysed 429 samples for strontium isotope analysis and 128 samples for radiocarbon dating. These provided new opportunities to reconstruct ritual practices and individual life histories, and to investigate gendered mobility and family relations in the Late Bronze Age. We found that the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition in the Traisen Valley was far from uniform and included well-defined early urn burials in pits as well as cremations in body-sized graves under barrows. The subsequent chronological development was marked by a change in burial practice, with a move away from grave goods cremated with the body on the pyre, towards the deposition of an uncremated assemblage in the grave. Evidence for non-local individuals who may have contributed to the introduction of cremation in the Traisen Valley was scarce. We found little evidence for individuals buried in the Traisen Valley who did not grow up there. We did, however, find a change in land management, with food being grown in both low and high areas of the valley throughout the Late Bronze Age. Gendered patterns of migration were therefore not revealed, although we do see slightly higher levels of local mobility among children and female individuals. In order to determine whether the deposition of cremated human bones took place immediately after cremation or whether ancestral remains were curated, we took more than one dating sample per grave wherever possible and combined the dates with artefact-based typo-chronological assessment. We found interesting cases of chronological gaps within graves, suggesting memorial practices in the cemeteries. The wealth of data collected in the project has significantly advanced our knowledge of ritual practices, mobility patterns related to food procurement and social relations during the Late Bronze Age in Lower Austria. It has helped to establish modern standards for the study of cremated human remains and developed a much-needed set of methods applicable to other regions and time periods.