Iron Age Cremation Burials in South-Eastern and West Estonia: An Osteological Approach

Several Estonian Middle and Late Iron Age graves with cremations and inhumations from west and south-eastern Estonia were investigated in the period 1997 to 2011. During the research period various descriptive and metric data on cremated bone materials from west and south-eastern Estonia were recorded. The first aim of the study was to systematise and interpret the data collected on descriptive and metric features of cremated bone material in order to provide some generalisations on Estonian cremations. A comparative study of graves on the basis of the minimum number of buried individuals and the number of determined bone finds in graves, as well as bone fragmentation and colouration, is presented. Some conclusions on possible temporal changes and cultural differences in burial practices are made on the basis of these characteristics. Radiocarbon dating by the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) method using burnt and inhumed human bones from six investigated graves was conducted in order to specify the usage time of the graves. The second aim of the study was to estimate the number of burials in graves, the age at death and sex of the deceased, and to model the demographic figures for some Estonian Iron Age communities. The third aim of the study was to assess possible regional, cultural and temporal differences in the handling of human remains in connection with burial customs in west and south-eastern Estonia. During the Middle Iron age in south-eastern sand barrow cemeteries only cremations were detected, although cremation was practiced with child or infant deaths. In west Estonian stone graves during the Middle and Late Iron Age, inhumation and cremation were both practiced; the burial practice of children and infants is ambiguous, as their cremated remains are rarely found in graves.