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Mysterious Medieval Grave Reopenings (6th - 8th Centuries CE; Europe)

EnolaGaia

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There seems to have been a fad for re-opening European graves from the 6th to the 8th centuries, after which this activity died out. Archaeologists believe the evidence indicates this wasn't simply a matter of grave robbing, but there's no clear explanation for this apparently widespread practice.
Archaeologists investigate mystery of graves reopened 1,400 years ago

People living across Europe around 1,400 years ago had a habit of reopening graves and taking out objects for reasons that archaeologists are trying to understand, according to a new study.

"The practice of reopening and manipulating graves soon after burial, traditionally described — and dismissed — as 'robbing,' is documented at cemeteries from Transylvania to southern England," a team of researchers wrote in a paper published June 18 in the journal Antiquity.

In their study, the researchers reanalyzed previously excavated cemeteries from five regions of Europe. They found that between roughly the sixth and eight centuries A.D., people frequently opened graves and took out objects for reasons that don't seem linked to grave robbery. ...

"They made a careful selection of possessions to remove, especially taking brooches from women and swords from men, but they left behind lots of valuables, even precious metal objects, including necklace pendants of gold or silver," lead study authorAlison Klevnäs, a researcher at Stockholm University, said in a statement. ...

"Results show burials most commonly being reopened within about a generation of interment, and sometimes less," the team wrote. "The most frequent time frame for reopening was after soft tissue decay, but before any wooden container had collapsed or become filled with sediment."

Since it takes just a few years for bodies to rot in most conditions, "those graves were opened very soon after burial" ...

Why people removed items from the graves is unknown, but the archaeologists believe the motivations probably varied from place to place. "Grave reopening became part of a repertoire of possible engagements with mortuary remains over a wide geographic area, but motivations were probably driven as much by local concerns as by broadly shared understandings of death and its rites" ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/medieval-graves-reopened.html
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract from the published report. The full report is accessible at the link below.


Klevnäs, A., Aspöck, E., Noterman, A., Van Haperen, M., & Zintl, S. (2021)
Reopening graves in the early Middle Ages: From local practice to European phenomenon.
Antiquity, 1-22.
doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.217

Abstract
Across Europe early medieval archaeologists have long recognised significant numbers of graves displaying evidence for the intentional post-burial disturbance of skeletons and artefacts. The practice of reopening and manipulating graves soon after burial, traditionally described—and dismissed—as ‘robbing’, is documented at cemeteries from Transylvania to southern England. This article presents a synthesis of five recent regional studies to investigate the evidence of and the motivations for the reopening of early medieval graves. From the later sixth century AD, the reopening of individual graves and removal of selected artefact types rapidly became part of the shared treatment of the dead across this wide area.

FULL REPORT:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...n-phenomenon/7AF3550F7CDD3FEEF7E1E8146BF71284
 
I find this fascinating, reopening of graves within a generation, some items taken and some new items deposited. It was mentioned in one of the News reports I read that if we could determine why particular items were retrieved, we would know why they were buried with the body in the first place. Maybe then it could be explained why grave goods were no longer left in later burials.
 
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