Du cadavre à l’oubli

Abstract

The end of the burial time is difficult to grasp. Archaeology can never restore the process of loss of a deceased memory. However, it raises questions about the future of human remains in a burial site. They remain for a time the support of the memory of the dead before no longer considered as mere objects. The favourable case of collective Neolithic tombs allows us to identify the two stages of this transformation: deindividuation and dehumanization of the bones. Their deindividuation is included in the funeral program of these tombs. The dislocated bones are often moved and maintained in the sepulchral space, revealing they remain attached to the community of the dead. A consistent level of secondary burials also reflects this transformation. The bones may become waste devoid of symbolic substance. That allows emptying unceremoniously the osteological content of a monument to ensure the deposits’ succession. The complete decommissioning of the human bones also appears through the closing of some sites, marked by diggings in the old burial layers. Burial practices defined in the neolithic collective burials suggest that the priorities of the operators is often to make durable the monument, to the detriment of all the skeletons, showing that it is the media of the population identity.

Keywords

• collective burial
• commemoration
• mortuary practices
• Neolithic