Profane Death in Burial Practices of a Pre-Industrial Society: A study from Silesia

Description

‘Profane Death in Burial Practices of a Pre-Industrial Society: A study from Silesia’ discusses phenomena characteristic of the funeral practices of the pre-industrial society of Silesia (Poland). The author explores specific groups of people: unbaptised children, women who died in childbirth, suicides, convicts and those who perished in epidemics, who were refused an honorary burial in consecrated land or had ceremonies conducted on special terms. Also discussed are the places where the bodies of these excluded individuals were interred. The study is supplemented by an analysis of the results of archaeological research, which mainly involved fieldwork carried out at former execution sites. The skeletal remains of numerous convicts were discovered during these investigations, together with the remnants of stonebuilt gallows. This analysis is especially relevant for interpreting selected funeral finds, socalled ‘vampire burials’, and the general question of atypical treatment of bodies perceived as unworthy, badly-deceased or ‘unclean’. The research subject is novel, as no similar synthetic studies on unusual funerary practices have yet been conducted in Polish archaeology for this particular era and territory. The author is primarily concerned with cases mentioned in historical and archaeological sources from the region of Silesia, but evidence from beyond this area is also presented. Chronologically the study covers the period between the 15th and early 19th centuries. Table of Contents Introduction 1. Valorization of cemetery space 2.1. Cemetery boundaries 2.2. Functions of cemeteries 2.3. Hierarchy of cemeteries 2.4. Hierarchy within cemeteries 2. Suicide 2.1. Differences in religious denominations and legal bases for punishment of suicides 2.2. Place of death - profane space 2.3. Suicides in cities 2.4. Significance of crossroads and boundaries for burials 2.5. Executions of suicides — prevention or punishment? 2.6. Beliefs and magical practices associated with suicide death 3. Executed bodies and execution sites 3.1. Superstitions and magic practices associated with execution sites 3.1.1. Magical properties of criminal body parts 3.1.2. Magical properties of the hanging rope and other items from the gallows 3.1.3. Hanged men’s clothes 3.1.4. Magical properties of plants growing on the execution site 3.1.5. The role played by the hangman in perpetuating these superstitions 3.1.6. Archaeological evidences of the popular beliefs and superstitions 3.2. The location of execution sites 3.3. Burials of the executed and false cemeteries’ 3.3.1. Uses of the gallows structure interior 3.3.2. Different uses of the area outside the gallows 3.4. Gallows remains variation 3.5. Analysis of small finds 4. Women who died in childbirth 5. Unbaptized children 5.1 Status of children who died before being baptized 5.2. Changelings and other superstitious beliefs about new born children 5.3. Magic properties of body parts of unbaptized infants 5.3.1. Infant burials in vessels 5.3.2. The pot burial of an infant from Wrocław 6. Other groups in breach of the established order 6.1. Drunkards 6.2. Non-practicing Christians 6.3. Other groups denied standard burial 7. The ‘living dead’ and related apotropaics 7.1. Categories of the harmful dead 7.2. Preventive measures 7.3. Executions of the harmful dead 7.4. Rationalization and possible natural explanation of deviant burials 7.5. Grave goods and the belief in ‘living dead’ 7.6. Archaeological finds 8. Time of the plague — abnormal situation 8.1. Finding and punishing those ‘guilty of the plague’ 8.2. Plague burial sites and commemoration of plague victims 8.3. Archaeological record of epidemics Conclusion References Figures Index