Burned human remains: diachronic analysis of cremation rituals in necropolises of northern Italy

The funeral ritual of cremation has been practiced since ancient times and is an important source of information for the reconstruction of past mortuary behavior. In this study, 387 cremation tombs from five sites in the Po Valley (northern Italy) belonging to different periods (from the Bronze Age to the Roman Age) were examined to identify possible diachronic differences in cremation rituals. Anthropological analyses consisted of sex and age-at-death determination and estimation of the minimum number of individuals. Factors such as color variations of bones, fragmentation, skeletal completeness, and presence of animal bones were investigated as indicators of the funeral ritual. Different representation of the two sexes and different age-at-death were compared, as were single burials versus multiple ones. The results demonstrated significant differences among periods for almost all variables considered. The Bronze Age sample presented a higher frequency of single graves. The Iron and Roman Age samples showed a higher frequency of subadults than the Bronze Age. The cremations from all periods showed high frequencies of arm and leg bones, but the Roman Age sample showed a higher frequency of vertebrae and pelvic girdle elements. Larger fragments (≥ 20 mm) prevailed in the Roman Age, as did the presence of animal bones and blackened bones. We discuss these results by comparing them with sociocultural data of the human communities settled in the Po Valley during the Bronze, Iron, and Roman Ages. In conclusion, our study revealed different funerary rituals in northern Italy among the three periods.