Hammer on Vampires: Reconceptualization of So-Called Deviant Funerary Practices of Early Medieval Slavs

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Life and Death in Medieval Central Europe" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Slavic “deviant” funerary practices and dealings with certain dead—including decapitations, mutilations, or crushing cadavers with stones—have been of interest for mortuary archaeologists for many years. The explanation that researchers turned to most often was the one describing these practices as apotropaic in nature, as means of subduing the evil dead (most of the time identified as a “vampire”) and, subsequently, protecting the living community. However, given the broad sociocultural context of early medieval Slavdom, interpreting local atypical burials as “vampirical” calls for much thought. Lack of written sources supporting the narrative of existence of vampire folklore, matched with the linguistic, cultural, and historical spheres of the period most notably form an argument that equating atypical funerary practices with vampirism is at best dubious and hard to defend. With that in mind, objectives of the paper are, firstly, an evaluation of existing interpretations regarding Slavic deviant burials; secondly, contesting these interpretations with sources; and finally, proposing an alternative view on early medieval Slavic deviant burials and their origin and place within sociocultural structures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Life and Death in Medieval Central Europe   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39951.0