Between belief and fear - Reinterpreting prone burials during the Middle Ages and early modern period in German-speaking Europe.

ABSTRACT: Prone burials are among the most distinctive deviant burials during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Despite their worldwide distribution, the meaning of this burial practice is still a matter of debate. So far, a comprehensive analysis of prone burials is lacking for Central Europe. By compiling evidence from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, this study investigates how these findings fit into the scope of medieval funerary practices. 95 prone burials from 60 archaeological sites were analyzed regarding geographical distribution, dating, burial features, body position, age-at-death and sex. We applied descriptive statistics accompanied by multiple correspondence analysis in order to highlight possible multivariate patterns in the dataset. Prone burials occur in funerary and non-fu

SUBMITTER: Alterauge A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7458347 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature