5 About the Prehistoric Burial Rites, Rituals and Anthropological Data in Dobroudja (Eneolithic-Iron Age)
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Cătălina Semuc and Alexandra Comşa 5 About the Prehistoric Burial Rites, Rituals and Anthropological Data in Dobroudja (Eneolithic-Iron Age) 5.1 Introduction In our contribution we will try to offer an image of the prehistoric funerary monuments in the Romanian Dobroudja, namely between the Danube to the north and east and the present border with Bulgaria, without hampering in any way the interpretation concerning the funerary rite and ritual on the Lower Danube and western coast of the Black Sea as a whole. As Cristian Schuster and Alexandru Morintz will refer in the present volume to the prehistoric sites (Bronze and Hallstatt period) of the same region, we will not tackle the range of the various cultures. Yet, we will do it for the Neolithic and transitional period to the Bronze Age. In order to have a clearer image regarding funerary monuments, we have adopted the method of Valeriu Sîrbu, exposed in the volume entitled Funerary archaeology and sacrifices: an unifying terminology. We have to stress here also, that we do not have complete information for all cultural manifestations; this situation is due both to objective and subjective reasons all of which are connected with the research mode and publication of the results obtained from the field investigation. 5.2 Archaeological Data 5.2.1 Early Eneolithic Period 5.2.1.1 Hamangia Culture This cultural manifestation comprised parts of north-eastern Bulgaria along with the Romanian Dobroudja, (Haşotti 1997: 17-18). The origin of the culture is likely located in Anatolia (Haşotti 1997: 15-17). Necropoli: Cernavodă-Columbia D (Constanţa County) (Haşotti 1997: 28-29, with older literature-Berciu, Morintz, Roman, 1959: 95-103) comprises 556 individuals and was dated in the second half of the 4th millennium and the first half of the 3rd millennium B. C. Limanu (Constanţa County) (Haşotti 1997: 32, with older literature- Berciu, Morintz, Ionescu, Roman 1959, 49-54)-two individuals, a woman and a child, the latter being anthropologically studied and aged at four years. Unfortunately, the necropolis on that spot seems to have been destroyed by the works at the dam on the Mangalia Lake. 144 About the Prehistoric Burial Rites, Rituals and Anthropological Data in Dobroudja ... Funerary rite: In the necropolis at Cernavodă-Columbia D the funerary rite was inhumation in flat burials, in supine positions, most of the individuals with a SE orientation. At Limanu, inhumation was also present. Position of the skeletons: At Cernavodă-Columbia D there was a slight inclination of the body to the right, with the left arm being placed in different positions. There are also few flexed skeletons that have been mentioned. At Limanu, due to the fact that the necropolis was destroyed, the position of the skeletons is not known. Grave goods: polished stone implements (axes, chisels) were usually placed near the skull, along with ceramic vessels and burnt clay figurines (featuring standing or sitting personages). The most renowned statuettes are the so-called ”Thinkers” of Cernavodă, a man and a woman (presumably spouses) sitting on separate short chairs. In some burials, pendants or other shell-made adornments were found. Archaeologist Puiu Haşotti maintains that the ceramics in the settlement were significantly different from the one in the burials so their comparison is rather difficult (Haşotti 1997: 28). Also, in many burials animal bones (most frequently boar) have been discovered (offerings?). Anthropological data: Out of this cemetery, comprising 556 skeletons or their parts, some individuals could not be entirely exploited for their anthropological features, but all of them could be used for their demographic significance. The repartition of the individuals by sex is rendered in Table 5.1, Fig. 5.1 and 5.2. Table 5.1: Distribution on age and gender categories of the individuals from the necropolis Cernavodă- Columbia D (Hamangia Culture) (apud Olga Necrasov et al., 2000: 182-185 and table no. 4). NEOLITHIC BURIALS Cernavodă Limanu II. FUNERARY MONUMENTS II. 1. TYPES OF RITES IN NECROPOLIS GROUPS OF GRAVES AND SINGLE GRAVES inhumation * * II.2. TYPES OF GRAVES with dead * * II.3. TYPES OF MONUMENTS necropolis * * II.4. OUTSIDE SHAPE A. NECROPOLISES flat necropolis * *? II.5. TYPES OF COMPLEXES tombs * * III. MONUMENT WITH NON- CREMATED HUMAN BONES IN NON- FUNERARY CONTEXTS III.1. THE PLACE OF BONES IN PITS 01. no data available * * Archaeological Data 145 ContinuedTable 5.1: Distribution on age and gender categories of the individuals from the necropolis Cernavodă-Columbia D (Hamangia Culture) (apud Olga Necrasov et al., 2000: 182-185 and table no. 4). NEOLITHIC BURIALS Cernavodă Limanu 02. on the bottom of the pit IV. UNDERGROUND FITTING OUTS = PITS A. SHAPE 01. not mentioned, because of the damage * * 02. not identifiable * B. QUALITY excavated especially * * V. DEAD V.1. CHARACTERISTICS A. DEPOSIT PLACE in pit * * B. TYPES OF RITES normal inhumation * * C. GENDER 01. no data available * 02. male * 03. female * *? 04. unidentifiable (child) * * D. AGE 01. infans I (0-7 years) * * 02. infans II (8-14 years) * 03. adultus (21-30 years) * 04. maturus (31-60 years) * *? V.2. INHUMATION A. SKELETON CONDITION 01. no data available * 02. entire end anatomical condition * 03. incomplete (lacking parts) * 04. isolated bones * B. POSITION OF THE SKELETON 01. no data available * 02. laid on the back *? C. ORIENTATION 01. no data available * 02. head towards SE (123º-146º) * 03. head towards S (169º-191º) * D. HAND POSITION 01. no data available * 02. both hands laying the alongside the body * 03. hands are in different positions compared to one another * VI. GRAVES GOODS 146 About the Prehistoric Burial Rites, Rituals and Anthropological Data in Dobroudja ... ContinuedTable 5.1: Distribution on age and gender categories of the individuals from the necropolis Cernavodă-Columbia D (Hamangia Culture) (apud Olga Necrasov et al., 2000: 182-185 and table no. 4). NEOLITHIC BURIALS Cernavodă Limanu A. STATE OF PRESERVATION AT THE TIME OF THE DEPOSIT 01. complete * * 02. fragmentary (over 50% of the item) * B. CAUSES OF DETERIORATION no data available * * C. MATERIAL 01. clay * * 02. rock * * 03. silex * 04. marble * 05. sea shells * * D. TECHNIQUES 01. hand modeled * * 02. carving *? 03. grinding * 04. piercing * 05. incising * * 06. grooving * E. DECORATIVE MOTIFS (pottery vessels) 01. not-decorated * * 02. incised lines * * 03. zigzag lines * 04. geometrical motifs * * 05. grooves * VII. TYPES VII.1. INVENTORY (exclusively ceramic vessels) A. WEAPORY, FIGHTING GEAR END HARNESS ITEMS axes * B. WORKING TOOLS AND HOUSEHOLD GEAR 01. chisels * * 02. axes * * 03. grinders * 04. silex blades * * C. ADORNEMENTS 01. bracelets * * 02. rings *? * 03. beads * * 04. pendants * D. CULT ITEMS 01. anthropomorphic statuettes * Archaeological Data 147 ContinuedTable 5.1: Distribution on age and gender categories of the individuals from the necropolis Cernavodă-Columbia D (Hamangia Culture) (apud Olga Necrasov et al., 2000: 182-185 and table no. 4). NEOLITHIC BURIALS Cernavodă Limanu 02. sea shells * * VII. 2. OFFERINGS A. VESSELS A1. NUMBER OF VESSELS over 4 vessels * * A2. CENTER OF PRODUCTION no data available * * A3. TYPES OF CERAMIC VESSELS 1.a. TYPES OF UTILITARIAN VESSELS 01. bitruncated vessel * * 02. cylindrical vessel * 03. globular vessel * * 04. pedestalled cup * 05. mug (decanter) * 06. tumbler * 07. lid * A. POSITION OF THE INVENTORY IN THE TOMB INHUMATION 01. no data available * 02. at the head * B. MEAT B.1. RITE not cremated * B.2. CONDITION animal parts * B.3. SPECIES OF ANIMALS 01. Bos taurus * 02. Sus scrofa sus * 03. Ovis-capra * 04. Canis familiaris * B.4. GENDER no data available * VII.3. TIME OF INVENTORY DEPOSING put together with the inhumation * * VII. INFORMATION TYPE systematic research * * IX. ORIGINE unable to determine * * 148 About the Prehistoric Burial Rites, Rituals and Anthropological Data in Dobroudja ... Cernavoda - Columbia D 14% 2% 3% 3% 12% Infans I (0-7 ani) 3% Infans II (7-14 ani) Juvenis (14-20 ani) Adultus (20-30 ani) Maturus (30-60ani) Senilis (60 ani x) Unknown 63% Figure 5.1: Proportion on age categories in the skeleton series from Cernavodǎ-Columbia D (Haman- gia Culture). � The gender of the individuals in the Neolithic site from Cernavoda-Columbia D 22% 37% Men Women Unknown 41% Figure 5.2: Proportion between the genders and children in the skeleton series from Cernavodă-� Columbia D. Concerning the anthropological features of this community, it can be established that the skulls are mostly dolichocranian, for both sexes, at the upper limit of this category. There is slight variation concerning the sex differences. The male individuals have dolichocranian and mesocranian skulls, while the females have also brachycranian indexes, together with one hyperbrachycranian and one ultrabrachycranian individual. The height of the cranial vault is usually large for both sexes, belonging to the high and very high category of skulls. The porio-bregmatic longitudinal and transversal indexes are moderate, namely orthocranian and metriocranian. We have Archaeological Data 149 to stress here that the male skulls belong in 57% to the hipsycranian category for the porio-bregmatic longitudinal index, while the female is in a smaller proportion of 22%. The porio-bregmatic transversal index registers lesser cases in the high acrocranian category both for men (39%) and for women (25%). On the occipital bones, a special configuration of the bones can be observed with a very high and curved squama and a transversal depression located under the inion point. Thus it reveals some analogies with the Osman-kayasi forms, shapes conventionally denominated as “variant C”. The stature, calculated according to three classical methods in use (Manouvrier, Bach- Breitinger, Trotter and Glesser) is usually over medium, towards the high end for the male individuals and high for females one. According to all the information obtained when studying this series, it may be inferred that the population under discussion was a rather polymorphous community.