Behind the veil: An archaeothanatological approach to possible shrouding in a medieval multi-faith cemetery from Santarém, Portugal.

Abstract

Archaeothanatology has helped immensely to better understand complex burial dynamics and funerary treatment. Recently, scholars have employed this approach in attempts to reconstruct possible shrouding of corpses prior to interment, which often degrade entirely. This approach can potentially reveal funerary evidence of burial containers despite their archaeological absence. We employ a similar approach to test the possible employment of burial shrouds at the medieval site of Largo Cândido dos Reis in Santarém, Portugal. Given the multi-faith (Islamic and Christian) nature of the site, the site presents an opportunity to examine multi-faith community funerary patterns within the same geographic space. The shrouding of the corpse with ‘Yemeni cotton’ (kafan) if often cited as traditional to Islamic funerary treatment, yet confirmation of this has been difficult to identify archaeologically. Conversely, Christian funerary treatment does not canonically reference shrouding, but the presence of needles around the body in some burials suggest otherwise. We present an analysis of 119 individuals (70 Islamic, 49 Christian). Results suggest that while numerous Islamic burials show possible evidence of shrouding, the narrow and shallow construction of Islamic graves at the site likely complicate interpretations. Future work is needed to refine our understanding of lateral decubitus burials.

Keywords

• Archaeothanatology
• Bioarchaeology
• Funerary taphonomy
• Shrouding
• Medieval
• Necrodynamics