Klaipėdos universitetas

This article examines cremation cemeteries in west Latvia from the end of the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages (12th–14th/15th centuries). During this period, cremation graves constituted the dominant burial form in the region. We have selected as a case study Lapiņi cemetery, which reveals additional details relating to cremation cemeteries of west Latvia. The aim of the article is to provide further insights into burials of this kind in the Baltic region, which correspond in time to the Curonian expansion in northwest Latvia, followed by the conquest by the Crusaders and the change of religion and burial practices in present-day Latvia. For a better understanding of the environmental conditions at the time of use of the cemetery, taxonomic analysis has been undertaken of the charcoal used as fuel for cremation, as well as an analysis of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs from cremation graves. Lapiņi is so far the only Curonian cemetery in present-day Latvia where such analyses have been conducted. This has given us a new understanding of the funeral rituals performed on the burial site, and the formation process of cremation cemeteries.

Charred microscopic plant remains, other than charcoal, uncovered in the contents of grave pits, provide information on the use of plants as grave goods and other aspects of the burial rite, as well as on the taxonomic composition of the plant cover of the cemetery and the landscape around it. This paper presents the results of an analysis and interpretation of such eco-facts from the Bogaczewo culture cemetery at Paprotki Kolonia site 1 in the Masurian Great Lakes District. All of the charred plant remains came from the contents of 87 grave pits with pyre remains and contents of urns, dated, in general, to the early Roman Period and phase C1. Thirty-six taxons of different kinds were represented among them, including cereals and wild plants of different habitats. An analysis of the age, sex, number of individuals and social status of the deceased, defined on the basis of the grave goods and the use of plants in the burial rite, showed no pattern. The only probable rule seems to be the fact of the domination of wheat among the cereals uncovered in grave pits. The interpretation of the function of plants put intentionally on the pyre in the burial rite showed that their use was connected with universal and complicated symbols of cereals and plant food. Wild plants might have been used in the rite for their medicinal or magic properties. Some plants discovered in the contents of grave pits might also have overgrown the sites of the pyres and their close vicinity. Their taxonomic set shows that at the time of the use of the cemetery at the Paprotki Kolonia site 1, its surface was deforested and overgrown with herbal plants.