Kisné Cseh Julianna – Kemecsi Lajos szerk.: Komárom – Esztergom Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 7. (Tata, 2000)

Vicze Magdolna: The symbolic meaning of Urn 715

3. Knowledge about the rite of the burial: inhumation, cremation, contracted skeleton etc. 4. Understanding social indications for both the deceased

65 and the funeral organisers.

66 5. Insight into their concept of afterlife. 6. Possibility to recognise and analyse symbolic meanings.

67 Points 1, and 3 can be answered relatively easily. The dating of this grave is straight-forward reflecting on the numerous parallels mentioned above it can be dated to the beginning of the transition period between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. The rite of the burial is cremation with the body remains put into a cinerary urn, covered with a bowl with the small vessels within the urn together with the ashes, and then placed into the ground. This rite is common with all the three social identities (i.e. Late Nagyrév, Kisapostag, and Early Vatya) involved. The very careful selection and placement of the human remains into the urn might refer to a possible aspect of their afterlife belief. They placed the deceased in such a way that the remaining parts of the foot bones were on the bottom, those of the body bones were in the middle and the skull and teeth pieces always on the top. This might suggest a belief in life after death. Thus placing the deceased in a physical anthropological order might help the corpse or the soul to leave the cinerary vessel, in the other world, more easily. The remaining points are so inter-linked that they will be considered together as one. In case of grave 715 there is little doubt, that we are dealing with a careful and symbolically significant selection of grave-goods. Pader argues that the symbolic function of artefacts can be understood only if we study them in their context, it is not enough to look just what is used, but how it is used as well.

68 In the grave under discussion, out of the three gravegoods, it is self-evident that the urn can be considered to have primary significance, the Nagyrév bowl and the Kisapostag cup are present to emphasise the duality of the whole context. This duality must have been present 65 His/her social persona after BINFORD 1971, and SAXE 1971. 66 LEACH 1979, 122. 67 HODDER 1982; PADER 1982. 68 PADER 1982. 125