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Primary and Secondary Burials with Commingled Remains from Archaeological Contexts in Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey

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Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains

Abstract

Within the geographical scope of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, commingled human skeletal remains appear frequently in archaeological contexts. This chapter presents recent issues and approaches to analyzing commingled remains at four sites in Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey. The first case, in Late/Roman Early Christian Kalavasos-Kopetra, discusses the misinterpretation of a primary burial grave site for an ossuary as a result of post-excavation commingling. In the Hellenistic and Roman sites of Paphos, Cyprus, and Corinth, Greece, examples of commingled remains are explained as traditions in secondary burial rites. Within two Late Byzantine graves at Thebes, larger skeletal elements were favored in ritualized exhumations, resulting in a preponderance of smaller skeletal elements (e.g., hand and foot bones) within the primary burial. Finally, in the study of a Roman period mass grave from Oymaağaç Höyük (ancient Nerik), Turkey, the authors demonstrate commingling of human remains during excavation and exhumation procedures. From recent work on human skeletal material at Oymaağaç, a methodology for recording and analysis of commingled remains has been developed and implemented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The authors thank the organizers of the SAA session from which this volume was inspired, in particular, Anna Osterholtz.

  2. 2.

    The 2011 field season was codirected by Vasilis Aravantinos, who is now codirecting the project.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wiener Laboratory, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 54 Souidias Street, 106 76, Athens, Greece

    Sherry C. Fox

  2. Department of Anthropology, 4034 Smith Laboratory, The Ohio State University, 174 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Kathryn Marklein

Authors
  1. Sherry C. Fox
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  2. Kathryn Marklein
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Correspondence to Sherry C. Fox .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA

    Anna J. Osterholtz

  2. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    Kathryn M. Baustian

  3. Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    Debra L. Martin

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Fox, S.C., Marklein, K. (2014). Primary and Secondary Burials with Commingled Remains from Archaeological Contexts in Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey. In: Osterholtz, A., Baustian, K., Martin, D. (eds) Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7560-6_11

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