Out of ordinary or common burial practice? A Funerary Discovery from the Baden Settlement at Sântana “Cetatea Veche”
Out of ordinary or common burial practice? A Funerary Discovery from the Baden Settlement at Sântana “Cetatea Veche”

Summary/Abstract: The study brings to attention a discovery made in 2009 during excavations at Sântana “CetateaVeche”. From a chronological view point, the finding in question belongs to the Baden settlement. It consistedof a pit which contained the osteological remains of a ten-eleven years old child, bonesthat were not placedin anatomical connection. The anthropological analysis revealed that the surface of the skull beared traces ofviolence. In addition to the human bone fragments, some pottery sherds, animal bones as well as coal andadobe were placed inside the pit. Similar discoveries were recorded and, in fact, the great number of contextscontaining disarticulated human bones suggests a common practice through the end of the Copper Age. Part of aplain burial or of a sacrifice, either way the deposition of human skeletons inside settlements or in more peculiarplaces, such as caves, can be seen as a manifestation of the transcendent.

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