Reopening graves. Post-funerary activities at Moravian Migration Period cemeteries (5th and 6th centuries AD)

0579947 - ARÚB 2024 RIV SK eng J - Journal Article
Loskotová, Zuzana
Reopening graves. Post-funerary activities at Moravian Migration Period cemeteries (5th and 6th centuries AD).
Študijné zvesti Archeologického ústavu Slovenskej akadémie vied. Roč. 70, č. 2 (2023), s. 269-308. ISSN 0560-2793
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GM21-31765M
Keywords : post-funerary activities * secondary * disturbance of grave pits * inhumation cemeteries * Migration Period * Moravia
OECD category: Archaeology
Impact factor: 0.2, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/1122090716_Loskotova.pdf

The reopening of Migration Period graves, a topic that has been intensively discussed in recent years (summarised in Klevnäs et al. 2021), has not been comprehensively analysed to date for the territory of Moravia. In the studied period, Moravia formed an integral unit with the adjacent areas north of the Danube in the territory of present-day Slovakia and Austria, and while this is taken into account in the study, it is not included in the catalogue section, having already been evaluated in considerable detail with regard to the given subject (Aspöck 2005, 2011). Based on the available sources, the author aims to take into account all Moravian burial grounds (those with more than five investigated graves) from the 5th and 6th c., while part of the study is devoted to the results of new excavations at the Mušov-Roviny site and the methodology of excavating grave pits with regard to the documentation of intentional interventions. The results of the analysed data indicate an extreme degree of disturbance of the observed burial grounds (98%), with few exceptions, practically all grave pits, especially in large sacred areas, were reopened. At the same time, cases concerning smaller cemeteries were observed at which graves without furnishings were left untouched. The findings raise numerous questions. Could, for example, the ‘robbers’ be members of the communities that buried their dead in the cemeteries? Could it possibly involve some unknown method of post-funerary activities? The timing of this activity, the identity of the ‘diggers’ and their motivations are key issues in addressing the subject of the reopening of Migration Period and early medieval graves across Europe.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0349924