The power of relics: curating human bone in the British Bronze Age

Summary

This paper will investigate evidence for the curation of ‘relics’ (pieces of human bone that were deliberately retained over long periods of time) in the British Bronze Age. Isolated fragments of human bone have frequently been identified in settlement contexts, for example pits and ditches; they have also been found in graves alongside the complete bodies of other individuals. It is widely recognised that Bronze Age artefacts such as jet beads and ceramic vessels were kept and circulated as heirlooms over many generations. This project will consider evidence to suggest that human remains may have been treated in similar ways, including fragments of bone shown by radiocarbon dating to be earlier than their final depositional contexts, as well as worked bone that has been transformed into items of material culture. The possible social implications of these practices will be explored, casting light on how memory, materiality and the body were drawn into the definition of social and political identities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Buried, Burned, Bundled and Broken: Approaches to Co-Occurrence of Multiple Methods, Treatments and Styles of Burials Within Past Societies

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