Micheline KÉRIEN, Valérie DELATTRE READING AND INTERPRETING SECONDARY DEPOSITS IN EARLY MEDIEVAL BURIAL CONTEXTS IN THE ÎLE-DE-FRANCE

Abstract

By paying attention to secondary deposits in regional Early Middle Ages cemeteries one may characterize gestures which recount the history of the relationship maintained between the living and their deceased. A relationship which is present in the perennity of burial places, organisation of the landscape and the use of funerary structures, and contributes to perception of spatial and temporal dynamics. These deposits are an essential part of burial practice, taking into account the immediacy of the burial and respecting liturgical recommendations. Study of them involves recognition of the fate of the deceased, the skeleton and the dry bones. As with other remains, specific recording is required on site.

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