Death and fire : characterising the burning process and the cremation environment using archaeological burned human remains from Belgium

Burned human bones are commonly found in archaeological contexts. Due to high temperature during burning (up to 1000°C), organic components of bone disappear and significant structural, chemical and isotopic changes to the inorganic fraction of bone (bone apatite) take place. Despite these limitations, burned bones play an increasingly important role in our understanding of societies in which cremation was the dominant funerary practice. For this reason, the application of new micro- and macroscopic techniques to archaeological cremated bone collections enables new inferences on pyre technology, pyre management and specialisation concerning the use of fire in funerary rituals. The aim of this project is to investigate inter- and intra- site differences in burning conditions (temperature of the fire, duration, size of the pyre, amount and quality of the fuel, position of the body, fire extinguishing), pre and post cremation treatment of body at several Belgian Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman sites. In addition to osteological analysis, carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope analysis, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and elemental analysis (ICP-MS) were conducted in order to extract information from the burned bones. The results of infrared spectroscopy and carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of different skeletal elements (diaphysis, cranial bones, ribs) from different sites indicate that both the temperature and the position of the body on the pyre vary between different sites and time periods. This variability adds to our understanding regarding the specialisation of pyre technology and management at the studied sites. Inter- and intra- site variability in the burning process will be examined in the light of these results, as well as their archaeological context.