Back in January I embarked on an online short course in archaeology, by Oxford University. This was an assessed course, with two marked assignments. I shared my first assignment in blog number #042
Assignment 1 - Archaeology In Practice
The overall grading structure is a pass / fail. I'm delighted to say that my grading and feedback is now in and I have passed!
I have included my tutor's comments for my second assignment, below, in which I discuss what we can learn from ancient burial practice.
When the Covid-19 is lifted, we are all permitted back into the hills and to go back to working in the wonderful outdoors, I am looking forward to sharing these insights of our stone-age ancestors in my upcoming bushcraft sessions at The Peak Centre, Edale.
Archaeology
in Practice – Assignment 2
Assignment
Question 2C: In many ancient societies, people include grave goods as part of
their burial practice. Can we reconstruct the society of the living from these?
How can grave goods be useful for dating, understanding ritual, or identifying
gender, ethnicity, social status, occupation, and connections with the outside
world? Enliven your answer with specific examples.
Stuart
Westfield*
Abstract
Careful and methodical examination of the dead,
during and after excavation, can reveal huge amounts of information about the
deceased as well as their environment. Here we look at two Bronze Age
inhumations, which on first impression are culturally very different, but have
compelling similarities in terms of societal organisation and trade
connections. We contrast these with the death of a Chalcolithic (late
Neolithic) man who ended his days on a Tyrolean mountain, laying undiscovered
for 5300 years. Through archaeological science, we see how his life and times
can be reconstructed, even though this ended without the formality of burial
ritual.
Dr.Morrison - Good structure plan, a promising opening!
The
Boy King
Tutankhamun,
perhaps the most iconic burial of them all. Howard Carter’s methodical
documentation of the tomb and its contents in 1922, began a century of ongoing
archaeological investigation. His ability to understand the cultural and ritual
meaning of the hieroglyphs on tomb walls, sarcophagus and other artefacts was
in no small way due to Champollion’s deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, in 1822.
Tutankhamun’s
small tomb, unfinished hieroglyphs and hurriedly deposited artefacts indicated
he died unexpectedly. Re-examination of the famous golden funerary mask has
found evidence of soldering around the perimeter of the facial features.
Archaeologists now suspect that Tutankhamun’s image was grafted onto a mask
originally intended for that of his mother, Nefertiti. (Dr. Joann Fletcher,
2016)
DNA
sequencing has shown that Tutankhamun suffered from multiple malarial
infections and frail health due to familial interbreeding. CT scans indicated
the bones in his left foot had been destroyed by necrosis. (Dr. Zahi Hawass,
2010)
But
most of Egyptology had been dedicated to pharaonic royalty.
“This was, at first, a
history very much concentrated on a royal and elite male culture, and the
ordinary, illiterate members of society remained dumb in their unmarked graves”
Dr.
Joyce Tyldesley, 2005
In contrast to the veneer of hieroglyphic
affirmations and propaganda, the
excavation of structural discard in waste pits at
the village of Deir el-Medina, near the Valley Of The Kings, revealed thousands
of ostraca. Small fragments of limestone, on which were written legal
documents, letters, work records, receipts, indeed most aspects of everyday
life and social intrigue (U.C.L. 2002). The ostraca show that this was a sophisticated
and highly organised community of artisan workers whose purpose was to create
the pharaonic tombs.
The village would have needed to procure resources
from the immediate region. But also reach beyond the lower Nile to import trade
goods and objects of art. A gilded wooded leopard head in Tutankhamun’s tomb
was originally manufactured in southern Africa, (Jen Pinkowski, 2015) some
8000km away. Far from the more widely acknowledged Mediterranean trade networks
of antiquity.
Amesbury
Archer
In
2002, the grave of a Bronze Age man, estimated to be 35 to 45 years old when he
died, was uncovered on the site of a proposed development, just 5km east of
Stonehenge. Immediately it was obvious, this was an inhumation of enormous
importance. The grave goods were typical of the early Bronze Age Beaker
Culture, but in an unprecedented quantity, nearly 100 items, including the
earliest known gold items in Britain. (Wessex Archaeology, 2003)
But
his grave goods present an enigma. Among them were two sandstone bracers (archery
wrist guards), 18 flint arrowheads, possibly kept in a quiver which had long
since decomposed and boars’ tusks. In life, he suffered from a traumatic injury
to his left knee cap, which undoubtedly impeded his mobility and left him in
chronic pain with a wasted leg.
His
knee injury would have precluded a ‘long hunt’. And with this disability, it is
unlikely he would have been physically able to stalk close to larger quarry. His
low powered bow would only have been useful in close-to hunting. (Dr Alison Sheridan,
2003). Practically, it seems unlikely he was actually a hunter of great repute.
Another
artefact was a cushion stone. This item was typically used as an anvil, hammer,
polisher, or all three (Julie Walker, n.d.). So, was he a metalworker? The
original alchemist, possessing the secrets of smelting metal from rock. Such special
knowledge and skill would have made him an important, possibly revered, person.
This evidence goes some way to explaining the care taken in his burial. An acknowledgement
of his status perhaps, commending him to the gods?
In
Europe, bronze age metal workers’ graves are equally elaborate. Around 2400BC, Beaker
people ranged across Europe, characterised by common burial practice, flow of
ideas, cosmology and materials. Among the Archers’ grave goods were three
copper knives. The metal sources were traced to Spain and western France,
illustrating far reaching direct or indirect trade connections.
“We have long suspected that it was
people from Europe who initiated the trade that first brought copper and gold
to Britain and the archer is the first discovery to confirm this”
Dr
Andrew Fitzpatrick, Wessex Archaeology
Results
of oxygen isotope analysis on his teeth show he spent his childhood in the European
Alps (Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, n.d.). Also evident from his
teeth was a dental abscess. The suppurating knee injury and jaw bone infection,
suggest sepsis as a possible cause of death.
Another
burial was discovered nearby, dubbed ‘the Archer’s companion’, although radiocarbon
dating indicates he died slightly later (Andrew Fitzpatrick, 2009).
Interestingly, both had a rare congenital joint articulation abnormality in
their feet, meaning they must have been closely related.
The
Amesbury graves were contemporary with the great megaliths, including
Stonehenge. It’s creation, would have required vision, the coming together of a
committed workforce, huge effort and leadership (Barry Cunliffe, 2003). The
conceptualisation and likely the construction of the Stonehenge megalithic
landscape had to be driven by an individual, or a small number of people, who
were held in positions of esteem or power by the population. These could have been
identified as tribal leaders, holders of special knowledge, shamans, or prehistoric
astronomers.
The
Amesbury Archer and his companion we’re individuals who were afforded respect,
reverence and tribute after death which undoubtedly was reflected in life. So,
perhaps, the varied and many high-quality grave goods, some of them in unused
pristine condition, were not all his possessions in life, but actually mourning
tributes from various tribe members to their King and ruling elite.
Otzi
The Iceman
In
3345BCE a Neolithic man died high in the Otzal Alps, without a grave burial.
His body was preserved, almost entire, naturally mummified in ice until found
in 1991.
Bone
analysis indicated he was around 45 years old at death, long lived for the time.
He had a wiry, athletic build. Beaus lines on his fingernails were an indicator
of physical stress. He had intestinal parasitic worms and had suffered several
bone breaks during his life.
Dr. Morrsion - Would like a source here, even if it is the one you later cite in subsequent paragraphs
His
lungs were blackened from time near open fires, on which he cooked and then ate
game, grain and other plants. Otzi’s diet shows that, in his region, hunting
and gathering behaviours prevailed into the Neolithic period. Parallels can be
drawn with today’s hunter gatherer communities, who use plants as food as well
as nature’s medicine cabinet (Mike Williams, 2010). Analysis of his gut
contents, revealed that he consumed seasonal pollen spores with his last meal,
narrowing the time of his death to spring.
Throughout
the archaeological investigation of Otzi, several theories regarding his death
were tested. Crucially, an x-ray re-examination revealed a flint arrow head embedded
deep in his left shoulder along with a corresponding 2cm unhealed entry wound. The
arrow severed his subcutaneous artery resulting in a quick death through
catastrophic blood loss. Otzi had been murdered. (Stephanie Pain, 2001)
Based
on the evidence, Dr. Eduard Egarter Vigil a pathologist, proposed the scenario:
Otzi was attacked, he fled, and was shot in the back. There was no arrow shaft,
indicating that he had pulled this out and then collapsed (BBC Iceman, 2002 / Interview)
An
axe with metal mace head was found with Otzi. Typologically, the axe belonged
in the early bronze age, which contradicted radiocarbon dating of the late
Neolithic. However, metallurgical analysis showed that it was made from pure
copper, which was indeed in keeping with the carbon dating.
In
Conclusion
Modern
archaeological techniques have given us incredible insights, fresh discoveries and
the gift of captivating narratives. It is vitally important for this work to be
driven by evidence and to be open to a range of interpretations and
possibilities. As archaeologists, we owe this respect to the deceased. To tell
their story with integrity and to the best of our ability.
Striving
for better understanding, means re-visiting artefacts and the findings of
previous archaeologists. Carter, for example, was at the forefront of his
profession, but subsequent scientific developments have given hitherto
inconceivable results.
The
eminent V. Gordon Chile’s Beaker Culture single migration hypothesis has been
replaced with understanding of a more complex sequence of movement and adoption
of cultural ideas, made possible by strontium isotope analysis (Parker-Person,
2007). A method unavailable to him when he was alive.
But,
testing of theory does not necessarily need a long intervening period, as
demonstrated in the examinations of Otzi The Iceman.
Who
knows what tomorrow’s archaeologists will discover? But in looking forward we
should always acknowledge from where we have come.
If I have seen further
than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.
Sir Isaac Newton
(1643-1727)
Stuart, this is an
exceptionally well written and researched piece of work. As with your first
essay, you have extracted the key points from a wide range of sources and drawn
together a solid argument supported by the examples. A purist might say that Ötzi
wasn’t a burial with grave goods, but rather a victim left to lie with his
possessions (at least we might rule out robbery as motive!) but I think you use
him as a very good example of what can be learned (and unlearned) with good
preservation and a willingness to keep asking questions. Excellent work indeed! - Dr. Wendy Morrison
*Stuart
Westfield
BEng(hons) FRGS
Hayfield,
United Kingdom email: rangerexped@hotmail.co.uk
References
1
Dr
Joann Fletcher - Immortal Egypt S1 Ep 3 BBC, 2016
2
Dr.
Zahi Hawass - King Tut’s Family Secrets, 2010 nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2010/09/tut-dna/
3
Dr.
Joyce Tyldesley - Egypt: How A Lost Civilisation Was Rediscovered
Pub. BBC Books, 2005
ISBN 0-563-49381-X
4
University
College London - Deir el-Medina ostraca in the Petri Museum https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/deirelmedine/ostracaindex.html
5
Jen
Pinkowski – 15 Pharaonic Objects Buries In Tut’s Tomb, 2015 https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64771/15-pharaonic-objects-buried-tuts-tomb
6
Wessex
Archaeology - The Amesbury Archer, 2003
7
Dr
Alison Sheridan – Prehistoric Archery And Its Accessories, 2003 https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/our-work/amesbury-archer
8
Julie
Walker – Early Bronze Age Stone Metalworking Tools In The United Kingdom And
Ireland, not dated
https://www.academia.edu/27416792/Early_Bronze_Age_Stone_Metalworking_Tools_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_Ireland
9
Wiltshire
& Swindon History Centre, not dated
http://www.wshc.eu/amesbury-archer.html
10
Andrew
Fitzpatrick – In His Hands And In His Head, The Amesbury Archer As A
Metalworker (extract from) Bronze Age Connections, Cultural Contact In
Prehistoric Europe Ed. Peter Clark Pub. Oxbow Books, 2009 ISBN
978-1-84217-348-0
11
Sir
Barry Cunliffe – Film Stonehenge Rediscovered Film Rise, 2003
12
Mike
Williams – Prehistoric Belief, Shamans, Trance And The Afterlife Pub.
The History Press 2010 ISBN 978 0-7524-4921-0
13
Stephanie
Pain – Arrow Points To Foul Play In Ancient Iceman’s Death Pub. New
Scientist, 2001
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1080-arrow-points-to-foul-play-in-ancient-icemans-death/
14
Death Of The Iceman BBC, 2002 / Interview Dr. Eduard Egarter Vigil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CGG7Ax9btY
15
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/icemantrans.shtml
16
Parker-Pearson
- British Museum from: Kevin Greene, Tom Moore - Archaeology: An
Introduction 5th Edn Pub. Routledge, 2010 ISBN 978-0-415-49639-1
Tutor's report for CATS Points Award Panel.
Summary of tutor’s comments and advice to student on
final assignment
Stuart, this was an excellent
treatment of the subject, which reflects not only how much work you have put
into researching and reading but also how you have developed your own ideas
about what we can learn from burials. You
make some very good original observations and have built your arguments with
support from two outstanding examples from the excavated material. Excellent
work, indeed!
