#burial sites

[mapsontheweb]

Distribution of Prehistoric Burial Sites In Ireland

by Sarquin/reddit

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Though they died thousands of years ago, hundreds of bodies excavated in western China’s Tarim Basin look remarkably alive.

They retain the hairstyles, clothing, and accoutrements of a long-past culture — one that once seemed to suggest they were migrant Indo-Europeans who settled in the region thousands of years ago.

But the mummies’ seemingly perfect state of preservation wasn’t their only surprise.

When modern DNA research revealed the preserved bodies were people indigenous to the Tarim Basin — yet genetically distinct from other nearby populations — the Tarim Basin mummies became even more enigmatic.

Today, researchers still ask questions about their cultural practices, their daily lives, and their role in the spread of modern humanity across the globe.

How were the Tarim Basin mummies found?

Buried in a variety of cemeteries around the basin as long as 4,000 years ago, the naturally mummified corpses were first unearthed by European explorers in the early 20th century.

Over time, more and more of the Tarim bodies were unearthed, along with their spectacular cultural relics.

To date, hundreds have been found. The earliest of the mummies date to about 2,100 B.C., while more recent mummies have been dated to about 500 B.C.

Who really were the Tarim Basin mummies?

At first, the mummies’ Western-like attire and European-like appearance prompted hypotheses that they were the remains of an Indo-European group of migrant people with roots in Europe, perhaps related to Bronze-Age herders from Siberia or farmers in what is now Iran.

They had blond, brown and red hair, large noses, and wore bright, sometimes elaborate clothing fashioned from wool, furs, or cowhide.

Some wore pointed, witch-like hats and some of the clothing was made of felted or woven cloth, suggesting ties to Western European culture.

Still others wore plaid reminiscent of the Celts — perhaps most notably one of the mummies known as Chärchän Man, who stood over six feet tall, had red hair and a full beard, and was buried over a thousand years ago in a tartan skirt.

Another of the most famous of the bodies is that of the so-called “Princess” or “Beauty” of Xiaohe, a 3,800-year-old woman with light hair, high cheekbones, and long, still-preserved eyelashes who seems to be smiling in death.

Though she wore a large felt hat and fine clothing and even jewelry in death, it is unclear what position she may have occupied in her society.

But the 2021 study of 13 of the mummies’ ancient DNA led to the current consensus that they belonged to an isolated group that lived throughout the now desert-like region during the Bronze Age, adopting their neighbors’ farming practices but remaining distinct in culture and genetics.

Scientists concluded that the mummies were descendants of Ancient North Eurasians, a relatively small group of ancient hunter-gatherers who migrated to Central Asia from West Asia and who have genetic links to modern Europeans and Native Americans.

How were they mummified?

These bodies were not mummified intentionally as part of any burial ritual.

Rather, the dry, salty environment of the Tarim Basin — which contains the Taklimakan Desert, one of the world’s largest — allowed the bodies to decay slowly, and sometimes minimally.

(The extreme winter cold of the area is also thought to have helped along their preservation.)

How were they buried? 

Many bodies were interred in “boat-shaped wooden coffins covered with cattle hides and marked by timber poles or oars,” according to researchers.

The discovery of the herb ephedra in the burial sites suggests it had either a medical or religious significance — but what that religion might have been, or why some burials involve concentric rings of wooden stakes, is still unclear.

What did they eat?

Masks, twigs, possibly phallic objects, and animal bones found at the mummies’ cemeteries provide a tantalizing view of their daily lives and rituals.

Though most questions about their culture remain unanswered, the burials did point to their diets and the fact that they were farmers.

The mummies were interred with barley, millet and wheat, even necklaces featuring the oldest cheese ever found.

This indicates that they not only farmed but raised ruminant animals.

What were their daily lives like? 

The Tarim Basin dwellers were genetically distinct.

But their practices, from burial to cheesemaking and their clothing, which reflects techniques and artistry practiced in far-off places at the time, seem to show they mixed with, and learned from, other cultures, adopting their practices over time and incorporating them into a distinct civilization.

Researchers now believe their daily lives involved everything from farming ruminant animals to metalworking and basketmaking — helped along by the fact that the now-desolate desert of the Tarim Basin region was once much greener and had abundant freshwater.

Researchers also believe that the Tarim Basin residents traded and interacted with other people in what would eventually become a critical corridor on the Silk Road, linking East and West in the arid desert.

But archaeologists still have much to learn about what daily life was like for these ancient humans, including who they traded with, what religious beliefs they adopted, and whether their society was socially stratified.

Why are the Tarim Basin mummies controversial? 

The amazingly preserved mummies have long fascinated archaeologists. But the Tarim Basin mummies have also become political flashpoints.

The Tarim Basin is located in the modern-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, land claimed by China’s Uyghur minority.

Uyghur nationalists claim the mummies are their forbears, but the Chinese government refutes this and has been reluctant to allow scientists to study the mummies or look at their ancient DNA.

In 2011, China withdrew a group of the mummies from a traveling exhibition, claiming they were too fragile to transport.

Some research about the mummies’ DNA has been criticized as downplaying the region’s distinctness in support of China’s attempts to assimilate Uyghur people.

Just as more remains to be learned about the enigmatic mummies, their future as political and national symbols remains disputed too.

[mindblowingscience]

Mysterious Ancient Cemetery in Finland Is Devoid of Human Remains

A mysterious ancient graveyard that has flummoxed Finnish archaeologists for decades could be one of the largest Stone Age cemeteries in nor

A mysterious ancient graveyard that has flummoxed Finnish archaeologists for decades could be one of the largest Stone Age cemeteries in northern Europe, a new study suggests. Located on the edge of the Arctic Circle in Tainiaro, a place of long and bitter winters, the site was first unearthed in 1959 and studied again in the late 1980s, but the findings of those excavations never saw the light of day. Thousands of artifacts were described, and archeologists later discovered the sandy soils were tinged with ash and streaked red with ochre. But no human remains have ever been found in the dozens of shallow pits at Tainiaro, leaving researchers to wonder what brought people to congregate on the forested shores of an almost-Arctic estuary. Now, a new analysis of the site, led by archaeologist Aki Hakonen of the University of Oulu in Finland, strengthens the idea that the site was used as a graveyard, with up to 200 possible burial pits dug some 6,500 years ago by Stone Age communities otherwise known for their nomadic forager lifestyle. "Even though no skeletal material has survived at Tainiaro," Hakonen and colleagues write in their paper, "Tainiaro should, in our opinion, be considered to be a cemetery site."

Continue Reading.

[moramaisis]

Stone burial site in Jõelähtme, Estonia. Approx. 3000 years old.

[ancientstuff]

Prehistoric people used crystals to mark burial sites

Early Neolithic people used rock crystals to mark burial sites, according to new study. - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News

Interesting.

[p4radox99]

Landmarks and sacred sites are being destroyed and blown up for mining, in New South Wales. Burial sites where the ancestors of the aboriginal people are buried, “you don’t go blowing up European burial sites so why do they get to do it to ours” said a Dolly Talbot a Gomeroi woman.

The environmental minister Susan Ley said “the economic benefits outweighed the loss of heritage value”

This is the systematic oppression of Indigenous Australians.

[life-of-architecture]

Stary Sącz foto z 22 stycznia 2018

Kapliczka św. Teresy z 1931 r., w formie latarni umarłych, stoi na cmentarzu ofiar epidemii cholery w latach 1831 i 1873.

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Stary Sącz, Poland taken on 22 January 2018

Shrine of St. Teresa, built in the form of a lantern of the dead, was set in 1931 on the burial site of the victims of epidemics of cholera in years 1831 and 1873.

[goingtiny]

D.C. Cemetery Finds New Life As Stormwater Retention Model

On May 7, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C., offered a blessing at the District’s Mt. Olivet Cemetery, which dates back to 1858. That blessing was directed at the new, green infrastructure that has eliminated some of the cemetery’s impervious surfaces, making it a friendlier receptacle for rainwater. The changes also help reduce an annual fee of nearly $140,000 associated with water run-off, or $25.18 for every 1000 square feet of impervious cover.

Impervious surfaces make won’t allow water to pass through them. Concrete, asphalt and metal structures can end up creating steams of water that rush into urban drainage systems and then overload water treatment plants. If that happens, the excess water simply gets flushed directly into local water ways, complete with whatever bacteria, pollutants, trash and sediment it happens to pick up along the way. Untreated stormwater run-off has contributed to creating a critical situation in the Chesapeake Bay, which has been grappling with pollution issues for years.

Chieko Noguchi, spokesperson for the Archdiocese, explained some of the changes made in Mt. Olivet Cemetery to make it more absorbent: “Unused access roads were replaced with water-filtering bio-retention cells, and in some cases, wide roads were narrowed down to one-lane roads.”

Prior to the modifications, the cemetery had 437,000 square feet of impervious surfaces. Noguchi says that 18,000 square feet have been removed so far. The more sophisticated water-retention structures are also being helped by newly planted flower beds, shrubs and trees.

“Because it was in a cemetery, we also wanted to make sure that none of the burial sites were disturbed,” says Noguchi And, it was also very important to us that any of the construction work would happen around any already-scheduled burials, and we didn’t want it to impede with anyone coming to visit their loved ones in the cemetery.”