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In the are a between the rivers Cetina and Neretva the dominant
burial rite in the Early and Late Iron Ages was inhumation (usually under mounds). The
latest graves of this type are those at Posusje, which date from the first years AD. The
Roman occupation led to a radical change in the burial rite and cremation completely
ousted out inhumation.
Two hypothesis may be advanced in an attempt o trace the origin of inhumation in the
territory of Yugoslavia in the early imperial times: a) that this rite represents a
continuation of the earlier sepulchral traditions; and b) that inhumation burials represent
an intrusive trait associated with immigrants. The influence of the earlier, autochthonous
tradition may be assumed only in the case of the inhumation graves that are located in the
regions in which this form of burial was the dominant one in the pre-Roman period, too.
Inhumation was the dominant rite in the Illyrian territory proper (the littoral and its
immediate hinterland) and it was used in combination with cremation (biritualism) by the
Celtic populations in Pannonia and in the Danubian valley, especially in the earlier
phases of their presence in this territory.
Inhumation was the dominant rite also among the Celtic populations in Pannonia in the
earlier phases of their presence in that region (from the end of the 4th century B.C. to the
beginning of the 2nd century B.C.). In the late La Tène, however, the influence of the
native Pannonian population, which practised cremation, ousted out inhumation, and
cremation became the dominant rite. Sporadic skeleton graves from the late La Tène have
been reported from Jezerine, Donja Dolina, and Bare near Prijedor. No inhumation
graves dating from the early imperial period, indicative of a Celtic renaissance, have been
found in the territory of Yugoslavia. It is only in a grave holding a skeleton burial and a
chariot from the neighborhood of Ludberg (map 7) that we can recognize - on the basis of
analogies from the finds in the Hungarian part of Pannonia - a belated manifestation of
the earlier Celtic funerary tradition. This grave, and a similar one from Petrovina, is dated
into the 2nd century A.D.
The preceding discussion suggests that the native tradition had very little influence on the
appearance of inhumation graves in the early imperial period in the territory of
Yugoslavia. The skeleton graves of this period were an alien form associated with
immigrants from the Orient. This conclusion is supported by the location and distribution
of these graves, the time of their greatest use (which is contemporaneous with the
appearance of Oriental cults and intensive settlement of immigrants from the Orient in
the Balkan provinces), the results of the anthropological analyses of the osteological
material from some sites (Viminacium), and the character of the accompanying material.
Inhumation burials from the early imperial period have been reported from the cemeteries
of large towns (Emona, Salona, Iader, Senia, Viminacium, Sirmium, Scupi, Naissus,
etc.), where the ethnic structure of the population was heterogeneous and where there is
also epigraphic evidence of the presence of east Mediterranean elements.
The earliest inhumation graves have been found in the northern cemetery of Emona,
where some graves are dated by Tiberian and Claudian coins. The majority of inhumation
graves from the other sites belong to the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd
century AD. Some of the grave from the early imperial period cannot be dated with
precision. It seems, however, that the earlier graves of this type are poor and that they
should be attributed to a low social and economic class of the population (probably
slaves), while the graves from the end of the 1st century and from the 2nd century A.D.
are richer and probably belong to the craftsman and merchant classes of the urban
population.
The anthropological analyses of the material from the cemetery in Viminacium have
shown that the skeleton burials from the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd
century A.D. belong to the Anadolian and eastern Mediterranean anthropological types.
Some inhumation burials from the end of the 1st and from the 2nd centuries from
Viminacium Scupi, Naissus, etc. contained material of eastern Mediterranean provenance
(glazed vessels, lamps with the representations of Atis from Asia Minor, instruments of
the cult of Cybele on a disc, lamps with the representations of Serapis and Isis, glass of
eastern origin, jewelry made of jade, earrings made in imitation of the models from Syria
and Asia Minor, the „Leuchtturme”, etc.).
Consequently, the inhumation graves from the early imperial period should be attributed
to immigrants from the Orient who began to settle in large towns in the 1st century and
came in larger numbers in the 2nd century and at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D.,
as a result of the economic policy of the Antonian and Severian emperors.
The inhumation graves from the 2nd century A.D. in Dacia (Apulum, Romula) and in the
Hungarian part of the province of Pannonia (e.g. Intercisa) have the same ethnical and
cultural traits.
All the general interpretations of the problem of inhumation in the early imperial period
assume, in varying degrees, the presence of an Oriental sepulchral component. The views
concerning this problem can be classed into three basic groups:
- that inhumation is a result of intensive contacts and mutual influences between the
eastern Mediterranean and Italy;
- that inhumation is a result of the merging of eastern sepulchral traditions and of a
renaissance of the earlier Italian funerary forms, particularly manifested in the decoration
and form of stone sarcophagi found in Rome at the end of the 1st and in the first half of
the 2nd century A.D.: and
- that inhumation is a consequence of the Christian diaspora.
Although apparently different, these this have some basic elements in common: they all
postulate influences from the East and their merging with the native sepulchral tradition,
and they treat the chronology of these phenomena in the same way.
In connection with this, it is necessary to discuss the problem of the chronological
relationship between cremation and inhumation and to determine the time when
cremation superseded inhumation/This problem ., has been frequently discussed in
archaeological literature, but no definite solution has been offered because the individual
provinces of the Empire had different combinations of the native and Oriental elements
and different attitudes to their earlier sepulchral traditions. The middle of the 2nd century
A.D. has been often suggested as the period when both burial rites were in equal use, but
this theory does not hold good for the majority of the European provinces of the Empire.
Inhumation was the predominant rite in Gaul, Raetia, Dacia, Thrace, Moesia Inferior,
etc., as late as the first decades or even the middle of the 3rd century AD. The provinces
in the territory of Yugoslavia offer a similar picture. In Pannonia Superior, intensive use
of cremation can be traced up to the time of A. Severus, and sporadic cremation burials
appear as late as the first half of the 4th century A.D. Inhumation becomes the dominant
rite only about the middle of the 3rd century AD. It seems that too much emphasis has
been laid on the break caused by the Marcomanni wars. It is usually considered that after
these wars inhumation was almost the only rite practised in Pannonia Superior, although
cremation still dominated at the end of the 2nd century A.D.
The
earliest inhumation graves in the Yugoslav part of the province of Pannonia Inferior
belong to the end of the 1st century (Sirmium), but they become common only in the 3rd
century A.D. Unfortunately, this material has not been published, so that we cannot
define more precisely the period in which cremation was superseded by inhumation. It is
interesting to note that even in major urban centres cremation was practiced as late as the
beginning of the 4th century A.D. (the latest graves in Sirmium are dated by the coins of
Constantius II and Iulianus). A few cremation graves from the beginning of the 4th
century have been reported from the Hungarian part of Pannonia Inferior (Intercisa,
Aquincum).
In Moesia Superior there is evidence of cremation in major urban centers (Viminacium,
Scupi, Singidunum) until the fifth decade of the 3rd century A.D. (the latest coins are
those of A. Severus in Viminacium and Scupi, and of Philippus I in Singidunum). In a
few cemeteries (Mala Kopasnica, Kamnik near Skopje, Glavnik), however, cremation
graves are dated by the coins of Constantinus I and Licinius. Inhumation becomes the
dominant rite in the middle of the 3rd century A.D.
In the province of Macedonia cremation is sporadically practised until the middle of the
4th century A.D. (Stobi, coin of Constantius II; Pesterica, coin of Julianus). By the fourth
decade of the 3rd century, however, inhumation had become the dominant rite (period IV,
according to A. B. Wezolowski's periodization of the graves at Stobi; children's skeleton
burials from the earlier period are an exceptional phenomenon and should be accounted
for the by Roman custom not to cremate children - Pliny. NH, VII, 15).
Generally speaking, the transition from cremation to inhumation in the territory of
Yugoslavia took place in the fourth decade of the 3rd century AD. This process .was not
abrupt, but gradual and lasted for generations. The cremation rite persisted for a long time
after that date, not only as „an exception confirming the rule”. The appearance of
cremation graves at the end of the 3rd and in the first half of the 4th century AD. cannot
be considered as an expression of the resistance of the pagan population to Christianity,
but as a logical consequence of the continuous evolution of a sepulchral idea which
survived in the circumstances of religious toleration.
The change in the burial rite in the territory of Yugoslavia was partly caused by the
impact of the eastern Mediterranean sacral tradition (the manner of burial, the Oriental
cults, the Christian religion), and partly by the social leveling of the population of the
provinces after the Constitutio Antoniana. This act virtually abolished the principle of
the spiritual supremacy of Italy, and particularly of Rome, so that new ideas, more
acceptable to the native population, began to gain ground.
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