Stockholm university

Archeologists long believed that ancient graves were robbed all over Europe, but here’s why they’re

All over Europe, early medieval graves look like they were robbed long ago. But new research suggests that relatives re-opened them to take out heirlooms and make connections with the dead, discusses a new article in The Conversation.

Photo from The Conversation: Éveha-Études et valorisations archéologiques/G Grange


The article is published on January 10 and written by Alison Klevnäs, researcher, and Astrid Noterman, Postdoctor, at the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University.

They write:
”Our new research has re-examined evidence from sites in different areas of Europe and shown that the grave disturbance phenomenon is far more widespread than previously recognised. From Transylvania to south-east England, communities started to adopt customs of re-entering burials and removing certain objects in the later sixth century. The practices peaked in the early seventh century.

In some areas, frequent discoveries of ransacked graves created an image of pillage and violation of the dead, which came to be seen as typical of the post-Roman power vacuum across Europe. In some cases the violations were not even attributed to strangers: earlier 20th-century French archaeologists believed that reopened graves reflected the barbaric nature of the Germanic tribes then thought to have used the cemeteries and to have robbed their own relatives.”

Read the article published in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/archeologists-long-believed-that-ancient-graves-were-robbed-all-over-europe-but-heres-why-theyre-wrong-167403

Read more about the collaboration between Stockholm University and The Conversation and how to pitch an article idea: https://www.su.se/staff/services/information-communication/pitch-an-article-idea-for-the-conversation-1.462268

More articles in The Conversation by researchers at Stockholm University: https://theconversation.com/institutions/stockholm-university-1019
 

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