Du provisoire conçu pour durer ?

Abstract

When a funeral takes place in two stages, the first deposit is considered as a "provisional arrangement" for body treatment, clearly differing from the second deposit that is designed as a permanent resting place. If the second stage involves the placement of funerary goods, containers and structural components, the human remains related to the first stage are often assumed to be of little importance, somehow appearing "dehumanized" (Leclerc 1990: 17). Utilizing three examples differing in time and space: Skateholm (Scania, Sweden, 6000-4000 BC.), Potrero de Guadalupe (Michoacán, Mexico, J. 600-900. -C.) and Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu, 1000 BC), this paper demonstrates that a value can indeed be given to remains left in situ in the initial location of deposition. It is therefore crucial that two (or multi) stage burial practices, are not viewed within a single overriding interpretive framework that tends to rank the two stages of burial, the initial stage generally being seen as less important than the final repository. Rather the interpretation of such burials requires a model that considers varied burial rituals and their sequences in their entirety that valorizes the human remains at different stages.

Keywords

• buried in two stages
• manipulation of bones
• Mexico
• Sweden
• Vanuatu