ANTHROPOLOGY Deviant and of the Dead

Zach Udell

All living things end in one day; that is the inevitable fact of living. While humans do not have the physical ability to prevent death, they tend to find incredible ways to handle it. Humans adapt to numerous obstacles and hardships that they encounter throughout their lives. Humanities ability to adapt to the numerous and diverse environments have made it possible for our species to expand and create the societies that we live in today. Despite all these achievements, one thing that humans have not yet been able to overcome is the end of life, death.

Throughout human history, societies have mourned the loss of loved ones in unique ways that allows them to cope with the pain of that loss. However, some of the ways in which the dead have been laid to rest calls for for deeper investigation and analysis. In Eastern Europe, bodies have been found with their arms or legs bound, their heads and limbs removed, stones placed on top of the body or in their mouth; in so different many ways that it asks the question, why were these people buried in this way? The discovery of these bodies in unique circumstances brings about many questions surrounding the deceased and the society of that time. How the dead are handled is an important means of understanding culture and how it functions. Looking at atypical burial patterns is an effective way of seeking out the subtle nuances found in each culture. that differ from the norm could be argued as having a meaning other than for or respecting the dead.

Desecration of the corpse in any intentional manner, such as the removal of limbs or intential harm done to the body, can be seen as necrophobic. Fear is a strong tool that can be used to scare people into doing things that they would not have done or thought of doing otherwise.

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A religion can use fear to scare people into believing and doing the ‘correct’ things. Christianity for example is built on the premises that you will burn in hell and be tortured for all of eternity. Acting on fear has the potential to change how a group responds to an event in their society. Deviant or atypical burials can be linked to a fear of the dead or unknown, and these two things exist to provide a sense of understanding in an uncertain world. Techniques used when handling the deceased vary across the world, but each specific case has an intentional meaning that continues to change and expand along with our perspective of the dead.

It is important to understand what makes a deviant or atypical burial different and unique. Without the understanding in place, no true analysis can take place. A deviant burial can only understood when there are enough burials beforehand to identify activities of normal culture practices. Eileen Murphy, in her book “Deviant Burial in the Archaeological Record”, writes that “’Unusual’ or ‘deviant’ burials are considered to be cases where the individual has been buried in a different way relative to the norm for the period/or the population under examination” (Murphy,2008: 11). In order to look at the extraordinary cases, you first have to have plenty of ordinary cases. In some cases of deviant burials, it could be done as an intentional act of disrespect, or it could be something more sinister. Murphy writes that, “in some cases unusual disposal is accompanied be evidence of practices, which appear to indicate fear of the dead” (14). A thorough analysis of a burial is absolutely necessary in determining the meaning behind it.

Before analyzing specific examples of deviant burials, it is important to discuss who is buried and why it matters. When looking at things like atypical burial patterns, knowing who can offer explanations as to why someone is buried in such a different way than other people of that same culture and time period. In his article, “Deviant’ Burials Reveal Death on the Fringe in Ancient Societies”, Michael Balter writes that, “…in many societies, special burials were also given to outcasts and

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certain classes of people, including criminals, woman who died during childbirth, people with disabilities, and unbaptized children”(Balter,2005: 613). When looking at strange burials, defined as different than the norm at the time, things like this must be considered. Additionally, in “The Archaeology of Death and Burial”, Mike Pearson writes that, “Orientation of the grave, its occupant(s) and tomb structures built over the grave may all be significant”(Pearson,1999: 6). In relation to the status of the deceased, he writes that, “The shape and depth of a grave may relate to the social status or gender of the person buried. It may also reflect the degree of formality in the burial rite”(Pearson, 5). A person of higher status will most likely receive a more elaborate burial than someone of a lower social or economic status. However, it does not mean that all deviant burials were just because of social status. A fear of the dead could have played an important role in how people were buried. For example, Balter writes that some bodies found in Ireland, “…were often buried face-down, their limbs were sometimes amputated, and their bodies were weighed down with stones; contemporary writings suggest these practices arose out of fear that the bodies might run around at night” (Balter, 613). Any type of phobia within a society can create an uneasy atmosphere that people will act on in a way that makes sense to them. Necrophobia specifically has quite an effect on burials, and how a society functions.

A Durkheimian approach to culture has an interesting layout that fits nicely over how deviant burials and fear of the dead work. In a self- perpetuating culture, the rituals that are done are recreated over and over again, cementing themselves into the foundation of that culture. This in turn allows for it to continue to be recreated. It is self-perpetuating in an endless loop that is can be altered slowly over time or changed by outside influences. This model can be used to explain necrophobia and fear of the dead. People fear the unknown, and death is an immense unknown. Strange burials and the practices that go along with them are done in a way to provide meaning and understanding about such an ultimate unknown. As these practices are repeated, the meaning is carried Undergraduate Rsearch Journal | 13 ANTHROPOLOGY

along with them, and they continue to feed off of themselves. In “Fear of the Dead as a Factor in Social Self-Organization”, Akop Nazaretyan writes about the beginnings of fear and how it is tied to the evolutionary process of our species. He argues that this leads itself to the creation of the spiritual, religion. He cites numerous examples of deviant burials that have been analyzed by archaeologists and he comes to the conclusion that, ” …the complex activities in order to deprive a dead body of movement (tying, and burial), or to eliminate it (by eating it, burning it or dismembering it) could be mainly due to the belief that the dead person was likely to persecute and hurt the living. If so, we can conclude that care for dead bodies, as well as care for helpless kinsmen are among the very first symptoms of the ‘highly irrational human imagination’, and thus, of the formation of spiritual culture”(Nazaretyan,2005: 5).

A fear of the dead could have originally created spiritual culture, but spiritual culture could act simultaneously to create answers or at least understanding about the .

A society can continue to create an atmosphere of fear that thrives off of itself, but that does not necessarily mean that all people must have acted on those . While analyzing potential meaning behind atypical burials, it can be easy to write something off as having a meaning that it originally did not contain. In “Vampires, criminals or slaves? Reinterpreting ‘deviant burials’ in early medieval Poland”, Leszek Gardela and Kamil Kajowski reanalyze burials that were excavated in the 1950’s. The burials discussed are different from the norm during Medieval Poland. Gardela and Kajowski write that, “The most common atypical graves in early medieval in Poland are; 1) prone burials, 2) decapitated corpses and 3) bodies covered with stones” (Gadela, Lesxek, Kawjowski, 2013:781-2). Throughout the article, they are arguing for a reexamination of the bodies discovered in a more logical manner. These people, when first examined, were viewed as deviant and the conclusion was reached quickly that they must have been buried this way because the Polish

Undergraduate Rsearch Journal | 14 ANTHROPOLOGY people must have thought that these people were vampires. The thought did not come up that they had been criminals or slaves. Being buried atypical does not immediately mean that there was some supernatural or fearful thought behind the action.These burials could have alternatively resulted from a lower social class. Additionally, Gardela and Kajowski researched old practices found in medieval texts on how to deal with vampires, and they found that, “…textual accounts of early-modern anti- vampire practices from Silesia and Lusatia indicate that the majority of cases were cremated instead of being interred in a deviant way” (Gadela, Lesxek, Kawjowski ,2013:784). It is important to both analyze deviant burial cases in as wide of a scope as it is logical, and to reexamine old evidence in case there was an error or any premature conclusions reached.

There is a very strong connection between religion and burial rites. To gain a broader perspective on burial patterns and ceremonies, one has to first look at the religious connection. Stephanie R. Zach and Douglas William Hume discuss the conversion of Mayan rites to Catholic ones in their article “Changing Mortuary Rites: An Ethnohistory of 19th Century and Contemporary Religion in Northern Belize”. They discuss how the Catholic religion came in and took over by changing the religion of the natives in the colonial era. They write, “One mechanism of subjugating a society lies in control of the rituals that surround each rite of passage, including birth, marriage, and death” (Hume, Zach,2014: 150). A religion controls its followers by having cultural rites at significant points of an individual’s life. They also highlight some of the characteristics of native Mayan burial practices, and they seem to follow the general trend that other burials have. “Maya burials vary due to time period and social hierarchy. Ornate mortuary complexes were reserved for nobles and their servants. Temple complexes were reserved for kings and priests” (Hume, Zach,2014: 152). The significance of the person in the community seems to be a determining factor in the elaboration or ornateness of the burial. Assessment of burial placement and location also seem to be important in understanding who the person was in life. Undergraduate Rsearch Journal | 15 ANTHROPOLOGY

As aforementioned, a deviant burial is only looked at differently if there is enough burials at a site to construct the idea of a ‘normal’ burial. What may be seen as atypical for one culture may be normal for another. This is true with burial practices in Moche culture discovered in Peru. David Chicoine, writer of “Death and Religions in the Southern Moche Periphery: Funerary Practices at the Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru”, goes into depth discussing the various mortuary practices that exist within this culture. There exist some similarities to other cultures that have unique burials, “The Moche buried their dead according to their status and role during their lifetime and, as such, tool, special insignias, and other markers can be used to infer a deceased’s biography”(Chicoine,2011: 528). Social status seems to be a common trend for how someone is buried, but the differences between cultures are arguably more interesting. Things that seem out of place in the atypical burials in Poland are normal for the Moche. “Other common graver goods include metal objects, usually placed in the mouth, the hands, and sometimes beneath the feet, and plant remains, including maize” (Chicoine,2011:528). These burials were normal and abundant in the area, whereas the ones located in Poland were vastly different than what they deemed as normal. The burials in Poland could have been created out of genuine fear of the dead, or some could have been intentional disrespect of the corpse. The meaning behind the numerous burials that have been discovered will never truly be known, but they offer insight into the culture.

There will always be questions that discuss the placement and care of the deceased in a peculiar manner. In regards to the ‘vampires’ in Poland, it could be for any variety of reasons. Exploration of various contexts in which a person is buried in a deviant way may allow a culture to be understood more thoroughly. In the research article “Apotropaic Practices and the Undead: A Biogeocehmical Assessment of Deviant Burials in post-Medieval Poland”, authors Lesley Gregoricka, Tracy Betsinger, Amy Scott and Marek Polcyn analyze information gathered about the corpses recovered from atypical burials from a used in

Undergraduate Rsearch Journal | 16 ANTHROPOLOGY the 17th-18th centuries. The reason for analyzing this information in such a way is because, “…no study has been attempted to discern differences in social identity between individuals within standard and deviant burials using biogeochemical analyses of human skeletal remains” (Betsinger, Gregoricka, Polcyn, Scott, 2014:1). They looked at five bodies that were buried differently in the cemetery and found that the people in question were not deformed in any way, nor were they carriers of any deadly diseases. “Instead, it is likely that cultural factors were more often used to establish who was at risk of becoming a vampire and who was not. For example, newcomers to the community may have been viewed as outsiders and were thus seen as being at a greater risk for vampirism upon their ” (5). There are so many different ways to analyze information gathered in a burial. Why were they buried this way? Biological factors may help to explain. Perhaps they were horribly disfigured, or they had a terrifying disease. Maybe they really were just outsiders of the community. Regardless, the cultural reasons for the people being buried this way were strong enough that the burial took place. The fear that these people would return incited such a strong phobia that, “the inclusion of sharp instruments such as sickles or scythes placed over the neck and abdomen was believed to destroy their physical body if a vampire attempted to rise from the grave” (Betsinger, Gregoricka, Polcyn, Scott, 2014:3). Necrophobia was the cause of these deviant burials, and the practices that go along with it continues to create a sense of uneasiness of the dead.

Vampires and fear of the dead are often only associated with fully grown individuals. The discovery of children and infants buried in atypical manners bring up additional questions. Did fear exist about these children as well? Or is this fear of the dead universal? The fear of the soul harming someone could be an answer to these questions, as many burial rites are done to ensure safety and protection of and from the soul of the deceased. Leszek Gardela and Pawl Duma write about this topic in their article, “Untimely death: Atypical Burials of Children in Early

Undergraduate Rsearch Journal | 17 ANTHROPOLOGY and Late Medieval Poland”. The authors analyze information recovered about a number of children graves throughout different areas in Poland in an attempt to understand why some bodies were treated differently. Characteristics of the deviant burials are similar to other circumstances; decapitation, tied limbs, placement of body in relation sot other burials, placement of body itself, and any objects buried with the body. The orientation of the body may have significant meaning, but Hardela and Duma write, “…we cannot know if the unusual orientation of the grave was perceived as some kind of apotropaic rite to protect the deceased child and/or the community” (Duma, Gardela, 2013:320). It can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine the exact meaning behind a deviant burial. It could be argued that necrophobia is the main reason for strange burials whose purpose was to prevent a corpse from returning back to life, but other explanations must also be examined and presumed.

The fear of the dead could be one explanation for atypical burial patterns found in deviant burials located throughout the world. As some may argue, there is a universal strive within religion to explain the unknown, and attempting to control things like death and one’s spirit, if the religion believes in one. Harnessing the cultural significance and shaping it to fit the guidelines of a religion makes it even more embedded into the fabric of that society. While some deviant burials may be because of necrophobia, there are numerous other circumstances that must be taken into account. It is crucial to analyze information with as wide of a scope as possible in order to not reach any false premature conclusions about the cultural practices of a group of people. Social status has a significant meaning in a society and explains why different types of burial patterns exist, and the outliers that are discovered by archaeologists are attempted to be explained through the eyes of anthropology to gain a broader understanding of humanity. Necrophobia and atypical burial patterns can sometimes be connected through a web of social practices and fears that exist to provide understanding in a confusing world. Religion plays an important role in the social practices that go along with death, as a belief

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in spirits and afterlife are similar ideas that are shared by some religions. A self-perpetuating fear of the dead affects a society, because fear can be an immensely powerful tool that can be utilized by a religion to maintain power and provide structure for people. A religion uses tools, such as fear, to further strengthen their claims to the truth. By analyzing various burial methods in a variety of cultures we can better understand the roots of religion and see how powerful it has been and continues to be in our societies. The methods that societies use to honor their dead exist to provide closure to an event as powerful as death. Analyzing how different cultures honor their dead can provide us information about how similar or dissimilar we are as a species.

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Works cited

Balter, Michael. 2005. “‘Deviant’ Burials Reveal Death on the Fringe in Ancient Societies.” Science 310(5748):613. Retrieved December 2, 2014 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/3842684). Chicoine, D. (2011). Death and Religion in the Southern Moche Periphery: Funerary Practices at Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 22(4), 525-548. Gardeła, L., & Duma, P. (2013). Untimely death: Atypical burials of children in early and late medieval Poland. World Archaeology, 45(2), 314-332. Gardela, Leszek, and Kamil Kajkowski. “Vampires, Criminals or Slaves? Reinterpreting ‘Deviant Burials’ in Early Medieval Poland.” World Archaeology 45, no. 5 (December 1, 2013): 780–96. doi:10. 1080/00438243.2013.849853. Gregoricka, L., Betsinger, T., Scott, A., & Polcyn, M. (2014). Apotropaic Practices and the Undead: A Biogeochemical Assessment of Deviant Burials in Post-Medieval Poland. PLoS ONE, 9(11), 616- 620. Murphy, E. M., & European Association of Archaeologists. (2008). Deviant burial in the archaeological record. Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books. Nazaretyan, Akop P. “Fear of the Dead as a Factor in Social Self- Organization.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 35, no. 2 (June 1, 2005): 155–69. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5914.2005.00269.x. Pearson, M. (1999). Learning from the Dead. In The archaeology of death and burial (Vol. 1, pp. 1-20). College Station: Texas A & M University Press. Zach, S., & Hume, D. (2014). Changing Mortuary Rites: An Ethnohistory of 19th Century and Contemporary Religion in Northern Belize. Contemporary Journal of Anthropology and Sociology, 4(2), 149-

Zachary Udell is a senior and will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Anthropology. This paper was written for Professor Dawn Rutecki`s A460 Topics of Anthropology: Anthropology of Religion Cross-cultural Perspectives of the Sacred course.

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