Burial jars

Jar burials are human burials where the corpse is placed into a large earthenware and then is interred. Jar burials are a repeated pattern at a site or within an archaeological culture. When an anomalous burial is found in which a corpse or cremated remains have been interred, it is not considered a "jar burial".

Jar burial can be traced to various regions across the globe. It is noted to have been practiced as early as BCE 4500, and as recent as CE 15–17th centuries. Particular areas of studies on jar burial excavations include India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Palestine, Taiwan, Japan, Cambodia, Iran, Syria, Sumatra, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. These differing locations call for different methods, accoutrements, and rationales behind the jar burial practices. Cultural practices ranged from primary versus secondary burial, burial offerings (bronze/iron tools, weapons and bronze/silver/gold ornaments, wood, stone, clay, glass, and paste) in/around burials, and hierarchical structures represented in the location/method of the placement of jars.

Among many cultures, a period of waiting occurs between the first burial and a second burial that often coincides with the duration of decomposition. The origin of this practice is considered to be the different concept of death held by these cultures. In such societies, death is held to involve a slow change, a passage from the visible society of the living to the invisible one of the dead. During the period of decomposition, the corpse is sometimes treated as if it were alive, provided with food and drink and surrounded by company. Some groups on the island of Borneo, for example, attach mystical importance to the disintegration of the body, sometimes collecting and carefully disposing of the liquids produced by decomposition.

Methods

Jar burial culture was employed by peoples who chose this practice for primary or secondary burial. Primary burial refers to the acts performed on the body immediately after death. In some cases of Jar Burial, primary burial with this technique was a lot more difficult to carry out. In Cretan societies, the dead body would be bound tightly to fit into the desired jar. This was believed to be originally intended for infants and small children, but it evolved into larger categories of adults. Adult burial, however required much larger jars, deeper graves, and more man-power. In Egyptian societies, the body also could be sat upright, and then the jar would be forced on top of the body. Egyptians also would place the body into the jar themselves, rather than pushing the jar downwards, but this would create a need for a lid. Lids are not specific pieces of pottery, they have been found to be as simple as a rock or another jar. The preference of how it the body was placed did not have any certain significance.

Secondary burials are different acts performed on body that has already been buried. The allotted time between primary and secondary burials varies between cultures, however an emphasis is placed on waiting until the body has decomposed, and whatever technique is carried out as "secondary", is dealing with only bones with removed flesh. With jar burials, the bones, flesh removed, were cleaned and subsequently put in a jar.

Jar additions

Types of jars and additional components vary from location to culture. Different shapes of jars can indicate the prestige or societal level of the deceased, or it can be a commonplace jar. Funerary offerings are sometimes placed in or around the jars, thus revealing more information about the value different peoples have for certain items.

Decoration

Pithoi were typical storage jars, and were commonly used for burials, and they employ vertical round to oval handles. Carvings on jars have also been found, sometimes depicting local divine beings of the time. This is thought to assist in the passing of that individual to a realm beyond life. The carvings on jars are not standardized, meaning there is no particular pattern of a certain carving on multiple jars, but most carvings have been observed in Egypt.

Some jars are specifically manufactured for jar burials, due to the varying size of bodies and grave sites available to different cultures.

Accoutrements

Many jar burial sites have also been accompanied by more than just the skeletons and jars. Beads, swords, mirrors, and other animal bones have been found in and around jars. In the Cardamom Mountains, a large amount of beads have been found in jars. These are most likely offerings to the deceased, in the same way that tombs have gifts in them. However the presence of these beads and other offerings give great insight into the lifestyle of the people. By studying the materials and methods the beads were made of, researchers have been able to link various cultures together based on their likely trade operations—the way they obtained exotically different beads than what was typical to their own culture.

Gallery

Geographical locations of jar burials

See also

* Canopic jar
* Plain of Jars
*Hanging coffins

References

* Ivashchenko, M. "Kuvshinnye pogrebeniia Azerbaidzhana i Gruzii." Izvestiia AN Azerbaidzhanskoi SSR, 1947, no. 1.
* Kaziev, S. M. AVbom kuvshinnykh pogrebenii. Baku, 1960.
* Golubkina, T. I. "Kul’tura kuvshinnykh pogrebenii v Azerbaidzhane." In the collection Tr. Muzeia istorii Azerbaidzhana, vol. 4. Baku, 1961.
* A. Nnoeshvili, Funeral Practice of Transcaucasian Nations (The 8th B.C.-the 8th A.D. Jar Burials), Tbilisi, 1992,

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Archaeological features
Death customs