Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery : rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium)
- Author
- Arne Verbrugge, Maaike Groot, Koen Deforce (UGent) , Guy De Mulder (UGent) , Wouter Van der Meer, Sibrecht Reniere (UGent) , Bart Cherretté, Mathieu Boudin and Anton Ervynck
- Organization
- Abstract
- Archaeological research at Aalst - Siesegemkouter revealed several pits within a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement. Most of them hardly contained any artefacts, but one exception showed a structured stratigraphy with an abundance of finds, including a large amount of shattered pottery, charcoal and calcined animal bone. The study of this assemblage, and comparison with two other pits showing similarities, provides strong indications of a closing deposit or another type of 'site maintenance practice'. In the Low Countries, comparable contexts generally date from the Iron Age, suggesting that the finds from Aalst - Siesegemkouter represent early forerunners of this ritual practice. On top of this early date, the large volume of cremated animal bone represents an almost unique characteristic for which, until now, parallels from the Metal Ages have hardly been found, even on a Northwestern European scale. In general, the role played by organic remains in ritual contexts from these periods and regions is poorly understood, often due to bad preservation conditions or the lack of a multidisciplinary approach.
- Keywords
- Bronze Age, Belgium, abandonment ritual, closing deposit, site maintenance practices, OBJECTS, BONES
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8716772
- MLA
- Verbrugge, Arne, et al. “Cremated Animal Remains and Shattered Pottery : Rare Ritual Deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium).” PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT, vol. 98, no. 1, 2023, pp. 252–71, doi:10.1515/pz-2021-0017.
- APA
- Verbrugge, A., Groot, M., Deforce, K., De Mulder, G., Van der Meer, W., Reniere, S., … Ervynck, A. (2023). Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery : rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium). PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT, 98(1), 252–271. https://doi.org/10.1515/pz-2021-0017
- Chicago author-date
- Verbrugge, Arne, Maaike Groot, Koen Deforce, Guy De Mulder, Wouter Van der Meer, Sibrecht Reniere, Bart Cherretté, Mathieu Boudin, and Anton Ervynck. 2023. “Cremated Animal Remains and Shattered Pottery : Rare Ritual Deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium).” PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 98 (1): 252–71. https://doi.org/10.1515/pz-2021-0017.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Verbrugge, Arne, Maaike Groot, Koen Deforce, Guy De Mulder, Wouter Van der Meer, Sibrecht Reniere, Bart Cherretté, Mathieu Boudin, and Anton Ervynck. 2023. “Cremated Animal Remains and Shattered Pottery : Rare Ritual Deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium).” PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 98 (1): 252–271. doi:10.1515/pz-2021-0017.
- Vancouver
- 1.Verbrugge A, Groot M, Deforce K, De Mulder G, Van der Meer W, Reniere S, et al. Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery : rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium). PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT. 2023;98(1):252–71.
- IEEE
- [1]A. Verbrugge et al., “Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery : rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium),” PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT, vol. 98, no. 1, pp. 252–271, 2023.
@article{8716772,
abstract = {{Archaeological research at Aalst - Siesegemkouter revealed several pits within a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement. Most of them hardly contained any artefacts, but one exception showed a structured stratigraphy with an abundance of finds, including a large amount of shattered pottery, charcoal and calcined animal bone. The study of this assemblage, and comparison with two other pits showing similarities, provides strong indications of a closing deposit or another type of 'site maintenance practice'. In the Low Countries, comparable contexts generally date from the Iron Age, suggesting that the finds from Aalst - Siesegemkouter represent early forerunners of this ritual practice. On top of this early date, the large volume of cremated animal bone represents an almost unique characteristic for which, until now, parallels from the Metal Ages have hardly been found, even on a Northwestern European scale. In general, the role played by organic remains in ritual contexts from these periods and regions is poorly understood, often due to bad preservation conditions or the lack of a multidisciplinary approach.}},
author = {{Verbrugge, Arne and Groot, Maaike and Deforce, Koen and De Mulder, Guy and Van der Meer, Wouter and Reniere, Sibrecht and Cherretté, Bart and Boudin, Mathieu and Ervynck, Anton}},
issn = {{0079-4848}},
journal = {{PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT}},
keywords = {{Bronze Age,Belgium,abandonment ritual,closing deposit,site maintenance practices,OBJECTS,BONES}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{252--271}},
title = {{Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery : rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst - Siesegemkouter (Belgium)}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/pz-2021-0017}},
volume = {{98}},
year = {{2023}},
}
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