A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2005)

Régészet - Sanda Băcueţ-Crişan: The Neolithic rite of cremation in the north-west of Romania

The Neolithic rite of cremation in the north-west of Romania Graves 16 (M

16/2003) and 18 (M

18/2003) were researched in trench IV/2003 and are different from the point of view of the rite. The rite and the cremation were kept, but the material and the setting were different. There are pits burnt both on the bottom and on walls. In the pits there were placed fragments of painted pottery (fig. 3-4), calcinated bones in a compact layer, but the feature was filled with other pottery fragments. In the case of M

18 the grave-pit was of a larger size, the part from section 31-32 was about 1 m in diameter. In this case, too, the pit was burnt. Due to the fact that the pottery discovered in these last graves didn't show secondary burning, we believe that the pit was burnt before the grave-goods were placed in it, a phenomenon which is probably part of a purifying rite. At the time of its discovery, cremation graves from Täsnad and Suplacu de Barcäu (IGNAT 1998, 57) were novelties in Romanian Neolithic. A few discoveries were added to this to attest the spread of the cremation rite: a find from Zaläu „Urojkert" (BEJINARIU 1997) and another one from Gura Baciului, the latter being actually the oldest proof for the practice of cremation in the territory of Romania (LAZAROVICI-MAXIM 1995, 186-187). It is difficult to understand at present what exactly made a community to incinerate its dead, and, more important, who was the person to be incinerated. What is certain, is the prevalence of this funerary rite in the communities of Suplacu de Barcäu type, where the recent research added another twelve to the three graves known before. While a part of the graves (the 3 ones discovered by D. Ignat Fig. 3 Port "Coräu"; Painted pottery from Ml

6/2003. 3. kép Porc „Coräu", az Ml6/2003. síifestett agyagedénye 5 c in