The Varna Cemetery

The accidental discovery of the Varna Cemetery (otherwise known as the Varna Necropolis) on the Black Sea coast of modern day Bulgaria has shed light onto the lives of the people in the vicinity and the burial customs they practiced.

When it was discovered in 1972, a mass of gold and other metals were uncovered, dating back to the 5^th and 4^th millennium BCE, and this was one of the many reasons why archaeologists flocked to the area to study the area. The majority of the gold discovered was in the form of gold beads, but other forms were discovered. One of the more famous items found was the penis sheath. Other items found included hammered sheet pectorals, and “the gold appliqués (often zoomorphic in form) with perforated edges for sewing onto the clothing of the deceased” (Scarre, p.403). According to scholars, many of the discoveries were decorations; some worn around the wrists or upper arms, pushed through holes in the lips or ears or sewn onto their clothing.

The fact that many of these items were highly prized decorative objects is particularly interesting. It has led to the theory that they were specially made for the purpose of burial and not for use while the person was alive. It indicates the method of how societies in this time were able to show the differences in social status.

It has been suggested by scholars that due to the richness of its treasures, especially the considerable quantity of gold jewellery, that these were the tombs of rulers. However, it should be stressed that there is no evidence at this time to back up this hypothesis.

Not all the graves contained a rich amount of grave goods. Indeed, while the majority have up to 10 items placed in the graves, there were 23 graves that contained none at all. Most interestingly, was the discovery of no skeletons in some of the graves, even though these were handsomely furnished with objects. These have been classed as ‘cenotaphs’ – a memorial to those whose body could not be found or buried in another location.

The Varna Cemetery offers us great insight to the growing complexity of communities in southeast Europe during the 5^th millennium BCE. While certain questions cannot be answered at this present time, the continual study of the Varna Cemetery will continue to provide unknown aspects of the Black Sea societies in the future.

Bibliography:

Scarre, Chris (2005) The Human past – Holocene Europe, Thames & Hudson, London.

The Syro-Hittite Ritual Burial of Monuments

The Syro-Hittite cultures flourished in ancient Mesopotamia from the Late Bronze Age to the time when they were finally annexed by Assyria sometime in the eighth century BCE. One of the many features they are known for are their remarkable pieces of art and architecture, especially giant lions where they were placed in front of palaces and temples.

Many of these beautiful monuments were later burnt to the ground by invaders who conquered these areas. These gate-lions and other statues were also broken down into smaller pieces and then taken away as spoils of war, to be reused for their own monuments or simply left buried underneath the rubble for an extraordinary long period.

However, at least five locations - Alalakh, Hazor, Zincirli, and Arslantepe near Malatya – archaeologists have discovered that these monuments were carefully buried in the ground, suggesting a Syro-Hittite burial ritual.

In Alalakh, archaeologists discovered several temples that were destroyed sometime in the 13^th century BCE when they were destroyed by the Sea Peoples. They also found evidence of a short occupation in the 12^th century BCE. A large statue of the king, Idri-mi, would have been firmly fixed onto a throne in an annex.

However, Woolley remarks, “In a room in the annexe of the temple proper ... we found a hole which had been dug into the floor and filled with earth and large stones (the largest weighing nearly a ton and a half) and smoothed over; under the stones there was a broken statue; the head, which had been knocked off, was set beside the body together with two smaller fragments, one of the beard, the other of a foot; only part of one foot was missing. The statue belonged to the throne found on the temple floor.... We can be sure that the statue was on its throne when the temple was destroyed because the breaking of the feet must have resulted from its being knocked violently off its base into which the feet were socketted.... After the sack of the temple someone must have crept back and piously collected all that he could find of the figure and hidden it in a hastily-dug hole ...”. The statue of the king had clearly been collected and buried carefully under the floor.

As with Alalakh, archaeologists found other temple monuments which, after invasion by a hostile enemy, had been buried in the ground. In Zincirli, five gigantic lions were dragged from their original places and buried in a specially made pit. When taking into account how heavy and the difficulties in moving them, it is clear that this was a case of ritual burying.

For a period of at least half a millennium, the Syro-Hittite people clearly practiced a ritual of burying monuments. However, there are questions that arise when looking at the information yielded from these temples. Why were only a small number of temple monuments buried in a ritualistic manner? Why did other temples not do this as well? Although the number of cases is relatively small, the sheer extent to which these ancient people went to bury these monuments clearly shows that it is not accidental.

The burial of monuments seems to indicate their importance in the cults and the ancient beliefs of the Syro-Hittite world. “The ritual burial seems to support the view that the gate-lions were not merely decorated orthostats meant to strengthen the superstructure of the gates in which they were incorporated, but, as guardians of the gate were considered to possess godly, demonical, or punitive powers”.

Bibliography:

Ussishkin, David (1970) The Syro-Hittite Ritual Burial of Monuments, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, the University of Chicago Press.

Hillside Burials in Hong Kong

Burial traditions are an important aspect in any culture. Different societies have different ways of attending and preparing the bodies of their loved ones after they have passed away and internment is also very important. For those who are buried, most bodies are placed in graveyards, where hundreds of people are laid to rest.

In Hong Kong, the indigenous people had an old tradition where they could bury their dead in hillsides. During the imperial period, the native Chinese people were allowed to have their departed family members buried on any chosen hillside. However, when the British came to rule the island, there were regulations imposed on this tradition. Under the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance (Cap 132), indigenous inhabitants were required to obtain burial certificates from District Officers, and interments were restricted to government-assigned burial area.

This, however, has not stopped the native people from carrying on this tradition. One reason for this is that there is no expiry date for these burials. In public cemeteries, human remains are required to be exhumed after six years, to be either cremated or reinterred in an urn cemetery.

Because of this, the non-native Hong Kong people and politicians have campaigned in recent years to abolish the indigenous burial rights. There have been three reasons for this. “First, the government has long maintained a policy that strongly favours cremations for most if not all Hong Kong people, and it is argued that there is thus no real justification for allowing indigenous inhabitants to maintain the tradition of hillside burials, especially when this right is denied to others. Second, hillside graves detract from the green environment and landscape, as many of them occupy scenic sites. Third, the government is required to pay generous compensation –totalling more than HK$17 million from 1997 to 2002 (SCMP 2002) - when it needs to move such graves in order to implement public works. Under these circumstances, there would appear to be clear justification for the abolition of this burial right”.

Despite these reasons, the Hong Kong government has been reluctant to abolish the practice of hillside burials, mainly because it would break Article 40 of the Basic Law. Another reason is because the indigenous people still continue this practice, and cherish the fact that they have, above all, never had to worry about the re-location of the graves, especially those residing in a good fung-shui position that is commonly perceived to bring affluence and offspring to descendants.

It is uncertain as to when this practice was established in Hong Kong but the tradition still continues today. The indigenous people cling to hillside burials as part of spiritual protection and benefits for their families.

Bibliography:

Chan, Kwok Shing (2003) Hillside Burials: Indigenous Rights in the New Territories of Hong Kong, Anthropology Today, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.