Properly put to rest?

K. (Karla) de Roest M.A.

E-mail: k.de.roest rug.nl

Promotor: Prof. dr. D.C.M. Raemaekers

Co-promotor: Dr. S. Arnoldussen

Period of employment: 1 September 2015 – 31 August 2019

Financed by: Faculty of Arts

Project description:

The aim of this research is to gain insight in the way past societies variously handled their dead and the reasons behind (shifts in) their behaviour. In this research identity and social roles are studied through later prehistoric graves and human remains, in order to establish (1) which funerary norm(s) were followed for what periods and on what scales, (2) what selection criteria were employed, and (3) how and why identity expression in mortuary customs changed during the late prehistory and early protohistory of North-western Europe. The framework of this research consists of five components: (1) study of landscape with the aid of GIS to investigate locations and create map models; (2) study of material culture and (grave) features (3) bioarchaeological study of human remains; (4) study of historiographic and iconographic sources; and (5) study of anthropological and ethnographical literature.