Early View: Zitierfähige Online-Fassung mit vorläufiger Seitenzählung. Nach Erscheinen des gedruckten Bandes finden Sie den Beitrag mit den endgültigen Seitenzahlen im Open Access dort: http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arch-inf Den gedruckten Band erhalten Sie unter http://www.archaeologische-informationen.de. Early View: Quotable online version with preliminary pagination. After the printed volume has appeared you can find this article with its final pagination as open access publication there: http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arch-inf The printedWendling, volume will H. beet availableal. (2019). there: Übergangswelten http://www.archaeologische-informationen.de – Todesriten . Review of: Wendling, H., Augstein, M., disposal practices to the use of grave goods as a Fries-Knoblach, J., Ludwig, K., Schumann, R., proxy for mobility, social identity and ideo logy. Tappert, C., Trebsche, P. & Wiethold, J. (Hrsg.) The majority of the chapters focus on the chal- (2019). Übergangswelten – Todesriten: Forschun- lenges as well as the interpretive potential posed gen zur Bestattungskultur der europäischen Ei- by archaeological data derived from the dispos- senzeit. (Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte al of the dead (WENDLING, WEISS-KREJCI, KAISER & Mitteleuropas, 86). Langenweissbach: Beier & MANSCHUS, ŠEINER, TAILLANDIER ET AL., LAVELLE & Beran. 331 Seiten, 201 Illustrationen, Karten, Di- STÖLLNER, BRÖNNIMANN ET AL., STEGMAIER, RAMSL, agramme. ISBN 978-3-95741-089-4. BALZER, PABST, MÜLLER-SCHEESSEL) while others used particular categories of material culture Bettina Arnold associated with mortuary contexts to discuss is- sues related to ideology, migration, and social This volume is one of a series published under the identity (GRÜNBERG, GLANSDORP, GLESER & FRITSCH, auspices of the AG Eisenzeit, an Iron Age Archae- LETTMANN, FRASE, REEPEN, TONC). Chronological ology Working Group that has been organizing (AUGSTEIN) and demographic analyses of ceme- annual symposia at various archaeological con- tery data, including infant mortality and disposal ference venues in Europe since 1990. The papers (BEILKE-VOGT) and an intriguing and novel study included in this volume were presented either at of death linked to pregnancy and childbirth (RE- the 8th German Archaeological Congress held in BAY-SALISBURY) make up another group of papers. Berlin, Germany in 2014 or at the AG Eisenzeit Several themes emerge from these studies conference in Hallein, Austria in 2015. The editors that illustrate the extensive and varied nature of are to be commended for including an unusual- funerary practices and regional interactions be- ly large number of chapters written by women tween the various cultural zones represented by (although they still account for less than 50 % of the papers between about 800 BC and the imme- the papers); the geographic distribution of the diate pre-Roman period in central, northern and chapters in the volume, by contrast, reflects the eastern Europe. particular spheres of activity of the editors and as The WEISS-KREJCI chapter presents a compar- such the focus is mainly on central Europe. The ison between several contemporary funerary Iberian Peninsula is not represented at all and contexts and provides a useful discussion of the there is only one paper from France, for example; erroneous assumption that the dead have a rea- at the same time, it is good to see numerous chap- sonable expectation of being able to rest in peace; ters dealing with the Iron Age in eastern Europe, various forms of disturbance and manipulation, which has traditionally been less well docu- including the complete removal and destruction mented in such publications. The second half of of interred remains, are in fact quite common in the title of the volume explicitly references Iron contemporary societies and there is no universal Age mortuary ritual, the focus of the first twen- commitment to allowing the dead to remain un- ty chapters that were part of the Hallein confer- disturbed. On the other hand, she dismisses the ence. When translated into English the first half idea of post-mortem agency outright (without of the title references transitional worlds in gen- citing an extensive recent treatment of this topic eral, including but not limited to mortuary ritual, by DEBRA MARTIN & JOHN CRANDALL, 2014). Some- and the remaining chapters encompass several what inexplicably, although there are numerous reports on ongoing projects related to the Europe- scholarly publications in English on the discovery an Iron Age that were presented in Berlin, some and analysis of the body of King Richard III in a of which can be considered more broadly to fall Leicester carpark in 2012, she cites only an online under the latter heading. Contributions range news report by the Guardian from 2015. from six to nineteen pages in length and are of The chapter by GRÜNBERG presents a largely art his- necessity rela tively superficial in their treatment torical analysis of a type of La Tène period sheet of complex subject matter, a characteristic of most bronze drinking flagon often decorated with or- conference proceedings. nate patterns in the area of the neck and shoulder, In spite of the restricted scope of the chap- which she interprets as a reference to the human ters, several of the contributions provide novel form, specifically neck ornament associated with perspectives on various subjects of interest to women. While this is an intriguing idea it runs up scholars who study the myriad ways in which against a number of issues, not the least of which Iron Age central European populations disposed is the small sample size and the range of tempo- of their dead, ranging from the interpretation of ral and geographic contexts on which this group Received: 20 Jan 2020 Archäologische Informationen 43, Early View accepted: 23 Jan 2020 CC BY 4.0 published online: 27 Jan 2020 1 Rezensionen Rezensionen Bettina Arnold of objects is based. Similar arguments could be triguing given the flour/body—wine/blood as- made about the placement of decorative motifs sociations. On the other hand, the amphora and on earlier Iron Age ceramic vessels, which clearly millstone deposits are unique to the Bierfeld “Vor were subject to particular rules, but interpreting dem Erker” cemetery for the moment, so it is dif- those rules as a reflection of ideological constructs ficult to know how generalizable these observa- across several different cultural contexts cannot tions may be to mantic rituals in this period. be supported on the basis of the existing evi- LEttmANN’s contribution focuses on adult-sized dence. In an extensive discussion of the Master/ ring ornament that appears to have been repur- Mistress of Animals motif there is no mention of posed for subadults in the early La Tène cemetery an English-language publication focused specifi- of Werneck-Zeuzleben in the Schweinfurt region. cally on this iconographic by Martin Guggisberg Use wear and life course analysis are combined which would have been relevant to her discussion in a creative way in this chapter, which presents a (GUGGISBERG, 2010). compelling case for ascribed status. It seems likely GLANSDORP’s contribution focuses on special based on the distribution of the ring ornament in deposits in a group of LT D1 cremation burials the burials that in this region as in other area of in the Saarland, the territory of the Treveri tribe. Iron Age central Europe subadults were classified To illustrate his discussion of the various possi- as “not-male” until they reached a certain biologi- ble permutations of cremated bone deposits he cally or socially determined age. The drawbacks of includes an illuminating and useful schematic this approach are that it requires good preserva- representation of depositional patterns and prac- tion conditions and graves outfitted with bronze tices associated with this category of mortuary objects that are decorated, allowing wear levels treatment. Also intriguing is the evidence of a ce- to be quantified. Neither precondition is always ramic object from one of the burials that may have present, limiting the applicability of the approach served as a beer or mixed beverage filter, one of outlined here. The discussion of other contexts in several contributions to the volume that highlight which evidence of extreme wear and potential re- the importance of analyzing containers found in cycling has been noted is extremely useful as is the Iron Age burials whenever possible to determine observation that combinations of new and curated their contents. Another interesting observation is pieces appear to have been patterned and presum- the ubiquity of oak as the wood of choice for cre- ably had a meaning that cannot as yet be deter- mations in the region at this time. The selective mined based on the evidence available. use of oak in central European Iron Age mortuary BEILKE-VOIGT discusses the special treatment contexts, where it was preferred for the construc- of infants, most of which appear to have died be- tion of burial chambers as well as funeral pyres, fore tooth eruption, in the early La Tène period suggests that it may have had a symbolic signifi- in the German-speaking areas of central Europe cance specifically associated with death and/ during which adult cremations are the norm in or the transition to the afterlife. A second useful many regions. Infants in the 35 sites included in graphic provides a way of conceptualizing the this sample are often found inhumed in settle- complex relationship between