What actually is a deviant burial? Comparing German-language and Anglophone research on deviant burials
By Edeltraud Aspoeck
Deviant burial in the archaeological record, edited by Eileen Murphy (Oxbox Books, 2008)
Abstract: ‘Deviant burials’ are generally associated with bizarre practices like decapitations and strange body positions. Archaeologically ‘deviant burials’ are those that are different from the normative burial ritual of the respective period, region or cemetery. This paper will examine the research history of ‘deviant burials’ in the Anglophone and the German-language archaeological traditions. In both traditions the interpretation of ‘deviant burials’ started with the denial of intentionality of these burials and then slowly moved to the insight in the 1960s ad 1970s that ‘deviant burials’ are part of normal burial practices. By comparing the two research traditions we will see how the interpretation of ‘deviant burials’ as changed over time, in the context of two different archaeologies, finally arriving at two completely different approaches. This challenges the usefulness of the concept of ‘deviant burials’ as such.
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