http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file
For complete access to all the files of this collection
	see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php 
==========================================================

Zagorka Letica

Burying and burial rites in the culture of Lepenski Vir

Source: "Počeci ranih zemljoradničkih kultura u Vojvodini i
Srpskom Podunavlju", Materijali X, Srpsko arheološko društvo •
Gradski muzej, Subotica, Beograd, 1974.

In last few years in the Iron Gate area a separate prehistoric culture
was discovered and researched — the culture of Lepenski Vir — which
chronologically and culturally links the culture of the Late Paleolithic
of this area with the oldest Neolithic culture of the type
Starčevo—Körös—Kriş. Beside varied and rich archeological finds — the
remains of dwelling places, stone sculptures, stone receptacles and
altars, as well as of stone and bone industry — in the find-spots of the
culture of Lepenski Vir were also discovered the graves which, by their
numerousness and stratigraphical position, enable the insight into the
way of burying and burial rites practiced through a long time span from
about 8000 B. C. till about 5.500 B. C.

For the present, nine settlements of the Lepenski Vir culture are known,
four of them on the right bank of the Danube (Lepenski Vir, Vlasac,
Hajdučka Vodenica, Padina) and five on the left bank (Veterani,
Terrasse, Icoana, Razvrata, Ostrovul Banului, Schela Cladovei). While
some of these settlements have been investigated as a whole or for the
most part (Lepenski Vir, Vlasac, Padina, Schela Cladovei), in the others
were carried out only smaller sounding excavations. However, without
regard to the degree of investigation of some settlements, it is of
importance to note that the data concerning the graves found in them
tune into each other, i.e. that they point to the same ways of burying
and the same burial rites. The most abundant data in respect of the way
of burying and burial rites give the graves from Vlasac, Lepenski Vir
and Schela Cladovei. At Vlasac were found 84 graves (110 dead), at
Lepenski Vir 82 and at Schela Cladovei about 20.

On the basis of vertical stratigraphy and archeological material, the
culture of Lepenski Vir has been divided into two phases: the earlier,
represented by the levels Vlasac Ia, b, Proto-Lepenski Vir and Lepenski
Vir Ia, b, and the later phase, which includes the settlements Icoana,
Schela Cladovei, Vlasac II—III, Lepenski Vir Ic-e, Lepenski Vir II,
Padina and Hajdučka Vodenica. In both phases the dead were buried within
the settlements. However, by time, the way of burying and of burial
rites changed. The graves, deriving from the level which represents the
earliest phase of the culture of Lepenski Vir show that from the very
beginning of this culture the dead were buried in various ways, i.e.
that complicated burial rites were practiced. Three ways of burying the
dead were stated:

- The inhumation of the dead;

- Secondary, i.e. partial burying;

- Cremation burial.

The inhumation of the dead was practiced throughout the Lepenski Vir
culture. In fact this way of burying is typical for this culture. In the
majority of the graves (about 90%) the skeletons were found in extended
position with the hands lain on the abdomen (fig. 1). However, even in
this way of burying, there is a difference as far as the position of the
arms is concerned. So in four graves at Vlasac one arm of the dead with
the open hand was raised to the height of the head, while the other was
placed, along the body, on* *the abdomen or on the chest.

The dead were lain in natural recesses on the flat ground or on some
kind of elipsoidal or rectangular troughs made of bigger stone blocks.
Only in few cases the dead were buried in shallow rectangular holes with
rounded corners. Very often, behind or underneath the head of the dead,
there was a stone plate. The orienting of the dead was not strict, but
it is characteristic that the dead were buried always in a fixed
direction in respect of the dwelling places had fixed orientation, it
was also noticed the regularity in the orientation of the dead. So at
Lepenski Vir the dead were always oriented south-north, because the
houses were oriented east-west.

Only exceptionally the dead were inhumed in the sitting position (fig.
2). From 84 graves in total, found at Vlasac, in one grave only the dead
was buried in the sitting position with crossed legs. At Lepenski Vir,
too, there was one case of such burying and at Padina there were two. At
Vlasac in the lap of a dead buried in this way, there was a human skull.

Throughout the course of the Lepenski Vir culture the secondary, i.e.
the partial burial was practiced more or less. It is characteristic for
the earliest phase the separate burying of the skull (fig. 3). Most
frequently the skull was lain on the stone plate and was framed by
stones. In all the cases the skulls were buried secondarily, because the
mandibles and the cervical vertebrae were missing regularly. At Lepenski
Vir were noticed partial burials of mandibles, femurs, and humeri. In
these cases the aforesaid parts of skeletons were regularly linked with
the constructions built in the base of the house, with hearths or stone
plates among which there were altars or sculptures. The secondary
burying of the whole skeletons has been stated with certainty only at
Lepenski Vir. At Vlasac, however, in few cases, the bones of a larger
number of the dead were gathered to a heap without a special order, or,
on the other hand, the long bones were carefully piled and put under or
above the skull.

The cremation of the dead was exceptionally practiced, i.e. exclusively
in the earliest phase of the Lepenski Vir culture (fig. 3). In this
burial rite the dead were cremated completely or partly. If the dead
were completely cremated, the remains from the funeral pile were taken
to smaller oval holes, or after the cremation the bones were separated
from soot and ashes and gathered in a heap which was simply covered by
earth. Few graves from Vlasac show that in some cases the dead were
cremated partially, because on the heaps of burnt bones there were parts
of skulls and other bones without any trace of burning.

In the later phase of the culture of Lepenski Vir the way of burying the
dead is simplified. The cremation burial and the inhumation of the dead
in the sitting position is not practiced any more, the secondary and
partial burying become more and more seldom and the dead, inhumed in
extended position, have mainly fixed position of the arms. A new
ocurrence, which is linked exclusively with the latest phase of the
Lepenski Vir culture, and the graves in which the dead were lain on the
back or on a side with the knees flexed at an angle of 90°. On the other
hand it has been noticed that children's graves were known mainly from
the later phase of the Lepenski Vir culture. In the course of the
earlier phase children, mainly newborn infants, used to be buried
together with females or males. In the later phase, however, children
used to be buried separately, regularly under the floor of the houses.

The powdering of the dead with ocher was practiced in the earlier and
later phase of the culture of Lepenski Vir. It is of importance to
underline that this practice was very limited. From about twenty
skeletons found in Schela Cladovei, only on two of them there were
traces of ocher and from about a hundred of dead buried at Vlasac, only
fifteen were powdered with ocher, this mainly in the abdominal part.
Only three children's skeletons found at Vlasac were completely covered
with ocher. In few graves were also found pieces of graphite and it was
noticed that in a larger number of graves the dead, especially children,
were covered by fish teeth (fig. 4) in the abdominal part.

Only exceptionally the dead were buried with objects which they
possessed in their life, with jewelry or implements of stone or bones.
However, antlers were very often buried together with the dead and were
mostly placed around their head. At Lepenski Vir, in two cases, the
horns of Bos primigenius were lain over the head of the dead and in one
grave there was the skull of Bos primigenius lain on the right shoulder
of the dead, while on the left shoulder there was a human skull without
mandible. This was all found as grave goods. However, in the Lepenski
Vir culture the dead were, as pointed out by D. Srejović, »linked always
with other, higher values: they rested within the dwelling places,
mostly beside the hearth or they were lain in the middle of the shrine
with hands touching, on one side, the hearth and on the other, the holy
boulder. Therefore, the graves of this culture do not illustrate
individual fates, but always express only ideas of a highly organized
religion.«^1 In the graves were missing the objects which would roughly
point to sex, profession, possession, social rank and personal
preoccupation of the dead, however, the graves are always linked with
the places of vital interest for all the members of the community. The
choice of the burying place for the dead within the settlement was
therefore limited, i.e. it must be assumed that within the settlement
were buried only those dead to whom special importance was assigned. The
fact that at Lepenski Vir — where completely seven consecutive
settlements with about thirty houses each were investigated — were found
only 82 graves, undoubtedly shows that the dead were mostly left outside
the settlement. Which factor was deciding, whether the dead would be
buried within the settlement or not, it is difficult to state with
certainty. There were, for sure, few criteria, because the choice of the
place for burying, as well as the way of burying varied to a great
extent. It is characteristic that the majority of the skeletons in
extended position belonged to mature or old persons of both sexes and
that in the sitting position were buried males only. On the other hand,
all the skulls buried separately belonged to males between forty and
sixty years and all partially buried mandibles to females between twenty
five and sixty years. In few cases only within the settlements were
buried the individuals of the age Infans II and Iuvenis,

For burying the dead mainly three places were reserved: home shrines,
hearth constructions and the rear part of the house. In the home shrines
secondary burial only of grown-up persons used to be practiced, this in
the space between the stone sculpture and the circular stone receptacle
placed behind the hearth. The majority of burials is, however, linked
with hearth constructions, some of which are probably of ritual
character. So, at Vlasac were dug-up four skeletons placed almost in a
circle, one touching the other by hands, and immediately above them
there were two hearths made of larger stone plates. These hearths had
probably no practical use. In a good number of cases the dead were
buried either in front of or behind the hearth which was included in the
dwelling architecture. In two cases it was noticed that after the
cremation of the dead, the remains from the funeral pile were taken to
home fire-places.

The rear parts of the houses were reserved exclusively for children, who
were regularly buried under the floors. Under the floor, but in the
other places, mostly in the immediate vicinity of the hearth, partial
burying of grownups used to be practiced as well. The graves which were
not linked with dwelling places and hearths represent an isolated
occurrence and in them were mostly buried the dead in the sitting
position. However, with these graves are regularly linked, either
particular stone constructions, or the graves were covered by a heap of
stones.

The diversity noticed in the way of burying shows that within the
Lepenski Vir culture there was a fixed hierarchy based not on the
personal property of individual persons, but on their functions in the
social rank and religious practice. At first, it is a puzzling fact that
at the same time in this culture very archaic ways of burial were
practiced, which remind to primitive magic procedures (the partial
burying of skulls and mandibles), and on the other hand, there were
burials which include complicated burial rites and highly developed
religious comprehension (the burying in the extended and sitting
position, cremation of the dead). It seems as if in the Lepenski Vir
culture were included the practice concerning the dead, known from the
older epochs, and that one which will be characteristic for later
prehistoric and historic epochs. Such focussing to death and the dead,
unknown in neither of the European cultures till the time of the early
Christianity derives for sure from a clearly defined ideology which is
far from being primitive and with which are also linked the other great
creations of the Lepenski Vir culture as well, in the first place the
works of monumental art. Therefore the way of burying and burial rites
in the Lepenski Vir culture can be understood only in the context of all
the manifestations of this culture which are varied and complicated to
the degree that it is impossible to speak about them in this place. It
should be, however, pointed out that the displayed material gives a new
and unexpected dimension of the religions of the prehistoric Europe.

***

^1 D./ /Srejović, Lepenski Vir, Beograd, 1969, 138.

1. Vlasac, grave 55.

2. Vlasac, grave 16, 17.

3. Vlasac, grave 45, 45a.

4. Vlasac, grave 42.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

// Projekat Rastko <../../../index_c.html> / Arheologija
<../../../arheologija/index_c.html> //
[ Promena pisma | Pretraga <../../../o/pretraga_c.html> | Mapa Projekta
<../../../o/mapa_c.html> | Kontakt <../../../o/kontakt_c.html> | Pomoć
<../../../o/pomoc/index_c.html> ]