Homines, Funera, Astra

Proceedings of the International Symposium on

Funerary Anthropology
5-8 June 2011
‘1 Decembrie 1918’ University
(Alba Iulia, Romania)

Edited by

Raluca Kogălniceanu
Roxana-Gabriela Curcă
Mihai Gligor
Susan Stratton

BAR International Series 2410

2012
Published by

Archaeopress
Publishers of British Archaeological Reports
Gordon House
276 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7ED
England
bar@archaeopress.com
www.archaeopress.com

BAR S2410

Homines, Funera, Astra: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Funerary Anthropology.

5-8 June 2011, ‘1 Decembrie 1918’ University (Alba Iulia, Romania)

© Archaeopress and the individual authors 2012

ISBN 978 1 4073 1008 4

Cover image: Alba Iulia-Lumea Noua - Human Remains. Trench III/2005, Square B (-0,70-0,80m). Foeni cultural group
(4600-4500 BC). Copyright Mihai Gligo

This work was possible with the financial support of the Sectorial Operational Program for Human Resources Development 2007-
2013, co-financed by the European Social Fund, under the project number POSDRU/89/1.5/S/61104 with the title ‘Social sciences
and humanities in the context of global development -development and implementation of postdoctoral research’.

Printed in England by 4edge, Hockley

All BAR titles are available from:

Hadrian Books Ltd

122 Banbury Road
Oxford
OX2 7BP
England
www.hadrianbooks.co.uk

The current BAR catalogue with details of all titles in print, prices and means of payment is available free
from Hadrian Books or may be downloaded from www.archaeopress.com
 Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic

Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic

Adina Boroneanț
Institutul de Arheologie „Vasile Pârvan”, Bucureşti, Romania

Clive Bonsall
University of Edinburgh, UK

Abstract the richest concentrations of Mesolithic and Early

Some of the best evidence in Europe for Mesolithic
burial practices is found at sites in the Iron Gates
section of the Lower Danube Valley. Burials dating to
the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic (c. 12,500-5500 cal
BC) have been recorded from at least 15 sites, four of
which – Lepenski Vir, Padina, Schela Cladovei and
Vlasac – each contained large numbers of graves, with
evidence for the existence of formal disposal areas or
‘cemeteries’. The burials encompass a range of
mortuary practices, including single inhumation in
various body positions, multiple inhumation, cremation
and excarnation. Our paper re-examines this evidence
and considers the question of temporal and spatial
patterning in Mesolithic mortuary practices in the Iron
Gates, in the light of new research since the 1990s.
Key words
14
Iron Gates, Mesolithic, burials, C dating, stable
isotopes
Introduction
Sites in the Iron Gates section of the Lower Danube
Valley between Serbia and Romania contain some of
Neolithic burials in Europe, dating to the period
between 12,500 and 5500 cal BC. Over 400 burials
have been recorded from 15 sites (Figures 1 and 2) and
four of these sites, Lepenski Vir, Padina, Schela
Cladovei and Vlasac, each contained large numbers of
graves. In addition, scattered, disarticulated human
remains were found in non-burial contexts across all 15
sites, as well as in a number of other sites where formal
burials were not identified.
Many of the burials were uncovered in salvage
excavations undertaken in 1965-71 and the early 1980s
ahead of dam construction. The excavations were
conducted rapidly, with variable standards of recovery
and recording, and poor chronological control.
Published accounts of the excavations vary in quality
and detail, and photographs and/or accurate plans are
available for just a small percentage of the burials. All
this poses problems in interpretation, which in some
cases have been exacerbated by inadequate curation of
the human bone collections since excavation.

Figure 1. Map of Iron Gates Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites with formal burials (drawing Clive Bonsall).

45
 Adina Boroneanţ, Clive Bonsall

Number of Mesolithic
Site MNI Early Neolithic
burials (Epipalaeolithic)
1. Ajmana 1
1 17 ●
2. Climente II 2 2 ● ?
3. Cuina Turcului ? 6 ● ●
4. Gornea 2 2 ●
5. Hajdučka Vodenica 32 46+ ●
6. Icoana 3 3 ●
7. Kula 5 5 ● ?
8. Lepenski Vir2 128 184 ● ●
9. Ostrovul Corbului3 6 9 ● ?
10. Padina 51 48+ ●
11. Schela Cladovei2 90 100+ ● ?
12. Ušće Kameničkog potoka1 1 1 ●
13. Vajuga-Pesak (trench XV)1 1 1 ●
14. Velesnica 2 7 ●
15. Vlasac 104 206 ● ?
TOTAL: 425 637+
Figure 2. Occurrence of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic burials in the Iron Gates region. Site locations are shown in Figure 1. Data
from: Mogoșanu 1978; Premk, Popović and Bjelajac 1984; Sladić 1986; 2007; Stalio 1986; Stanković 1986; Păunescu 1990;
Radovanović 1996; Roksandic 2000; 2008; A. Boroneanț 2010; A. Boroneanț and C. Bonsall, unpublished data. 1 - These sites
contained burials of various periods, but only those assigned to the Mesolithic or Early Neolithic by the excavators are shown. 2 -
The burial and MNI totals exclude a small number of burials that have been AMS 14C-dated to later periods. 3 - A total of 63 burials
were uncovered at Ostrovul Corbului. Six (MNI = 9) were attributed to the Mesolithic and/or Early Neolithic. The other 57 were
assigned to the Chalcolithic on the basis of grave goods or ‘stratigraphy’, but could include older burials.

Ivana Radovanović (1996) undertook the first

systematic analysis of Mesolithic burial practices in the
Iron Gates, relying mainly on the evidence from Padina,
Lepenski Vir, Vlasac and Hajdučka Vodenica, all on
the Serbian bank of the Danube. Subsequent research
has shown that her relative chronology was not always
correct, and that some burials included in her analysis
actually date to the Neolithic, while other burials
omitted from her analysis because they were thought to
belong to the Neolithic are in fact of Mesolithic date.
Nevertheless, Radovanović’s (1996) study stands as an
important contribution to the subject, and has been
invaluable in the preparation of this paper.

Further information on Mesolithic burial practices in

the Iron Gates has emerged since the 1990s as a result
of new excavations at Schela Cladovei (V. Boroneanț
et al. 1999; Bonsall 2008) and Vlasac (Borić 2006;
Borić, French and Dimitrijević 2008), combined with
AMS 14C dating and stable C-, N- and S-isotope
analysis of human bones from these and other sites in
the Iron Gates (see, e.g., Bonsall et al. 1997; 2008; in
press; Cook et al. 2002; Borić and Miracle 2004; Borić
and Dimitrijević 2009; Nehlich et al. 2010).

In this paper we review the evidence for temporal and

spatial patterning in Mesolithic mortuary practices in
the Iron Gates, in the light of advances in research over
the past two decades.

Body treatment
Mortuary patterns in the Iron Gates Mesolithic show
significant variability in the treatment and disposal of Figure 3. Extended supine inhumation: burial M37 at Schela
the body. There is evidence of primary and secondary Cladovei, excavated in 1988 (photo: Vasile Boroneanț).
inhumation, individual and collective burial, and
cremation.

46
 Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic
Primary burials
Primary inhumation burials (where the body was
buried soon after death and the skeleton is still
articulated) are well represented in Iron Gates
Mesolithic sites. Within this category of burial several
different body positions are represented.
Figure 4. Flexed inhumation: burial M1 in the Climente II
cave (photo: Vasile Boroneanț).
There are many primary burials where the skeleton
occurred in the extended, supine position – on the back,
body straight out with the hands by the side or resting
on the abdomen or chest (Figures 3 and 10). Examples
of this position are known from Icoana, Lepenski Vir,
Figure 5. Ostrovul Corbului: burial M25, described as in a sitting position (photo: Florea Mogoșanu, drawing: Alexandru Păunescu).
47
Padina, Vlasac and Hajdučka Vodenica in the Iron
Gates Gorge, and from Kula, Ostrovul Corbului and
Schela Cladovei in the downstream area between the
Iron Gates I and II dams.
Also quite widely represented are burials where the
skeleton lay on one side, with the legs straight or flexed,
and the arms flexed in various positions. In extreme
cases, e.g. Vlasac grave 44 (Srejović and Letica 1978,
fig. 101) and burial M1 from the Climente II cave
(Figure 4; V. Boroneanț 1970), the legs were tightly
flexed at right angles to the body. This last-mentioned
body position is also seen at sites in the downstream
area, at Kula, Vajuga-Pesak and Velesnica. The Kula
find was interpreted as Mesolithic (Sladić 1986), while
the examples from Vajuga and Velesnica were
assigned to the Early Neolithic (Premk, Popović and
Bjelajac 1984; Vasić 1986). Since no 14C dates have
yet been reported for the burials from Vajuga,
Velesnica, Climente II or for Vlasac burial 44, it
remains to be proven whether within the Iron Gates
region the tightly flexed body position (as distinct from
the ‘crouched’ or ‘curled up’ posture characteristic of
many Starčevo Culture burials from Southeast Europe)
is a Mesolithic or a Neolithic trait, or both.
There are a few instances of burials where the skeleton
was in a sitting position, usually with the legs crossed.
The best-known examples were excavated at Padina
(burials 15 and 16: Jovanović 1969: pl. XIII; Borić and
Miracle 2004: fig. 8), but the same position has been
reported from Vlasac (burial 17: Srejović and Letica
1978, fig. 118), Kula (burial 5: Mikić and Sladić 1994),
and Ostrovul Corbului (burials M2 and M25: Figure 5;
A. Boroneanț 2010).
 Adina Boroneanţ, Clive Bonsall

Figure 6. Lepenski Vir: burial 69 – dorsal decubitus inhumation in the ‘butterfly’ posture (photos: Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade).

Figure 7. Lepenski Vir: extended supine inhumation burials 54c and 54e in house 65. The skull of 54c was removed. Arranged around
the upper body of 54e are disarticulated human bones (burial 54d) from one or more individuals, including a cranium resting on the left
shoulder of the articulated skeleton. Burials 54e and 54d were found beneath a heap of stones (photo: Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade).

48
 Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic
Burial 69 from Lepenski Vir (Figure 6) is sometimes
cited as another example where the body was placed in
a sitting position (e.g. Borić and Miracle 2004, 355).
However, this burial is quite distinct. The skeleton lay
in a supine position, the legs were tightly flexed and
splayed with the soles of the feet together, and the head
was bent forward on the chest. The only other skeleton
from an Iron Gates site to exhibit a similar posture is
burial 2G from Velesnica (Vasić 1986, figs. 15‒17),
which was the earliest burial in a collective grave pit of
(presumed) Early Neolithic date (Vasić 1986; 2008).
Secondary burials
‘Secondary burial’ implies a two-stage or multi-stage
process in which final burial takes place some time
after death and the skeleton is disarticulated.
Figure 8. Mesolithic burials in Area III-IV at Schela Cladovei. The skulls were missing from skeletons M47, M50 and M52, while
M44 and M45 were part of a cache of two crania and a calvarium. The head-to-foot positioning of M43 and M46 suggests they could
have been placed in the same grave (reproduced from V. Boroneanț et al. 1999, fig. 2).
Since there are no signs of separation of body parts by
sectioning (cutting), it is likely that excarnation
(defleshing) was allowed to happen naturally. A body
may have been left exposed to allow the flesh to either
rot away or be removed by scavengers. However,
removal of flesh by mammalian or avian scavengers is
likely to leave marks on the bones, and very few if any
human bones from Iron Gates Mesolithic sites display
such marks. Therefore, excarnation was probably
achieved by burying the corpse in the ground, or
covering it over with earth or stones, until the soft
tissue had decayed, followed by exhumation and
perhaps manual cleaning of the bones. Exhumation and
reburial of entire skeletons appears to have been rare.
But there are many cases where an individual bone or
parts of a skeleton were removed from a primary burial.
Sometimes, the skull or cranium is missing from a
primary inhumation, under circumstances suggesting
intentional removal. Examples include burial 54c at
Lepenski Vir (Figure 7; Srejović 1969), burial 73 at
Vlasac (Srejović and Letica 1978, fig. 122) and burials
49
Although primary inhumations are the most frequent
burial type recognized at Mesolithic sites in the Iron
Gates, there is also abundant evidence of secondary
inhumation burial of individual human bones, groups
of disarticulated bones, and body parts (bones in
articulation suggesting they were still held together by
soft tissue, i.e. not completely defleshed, when
reburied). These were sometimes added to graves
containing a primary burial (Figures 7 and 10), and
sometimes buried separately. In some cases it is
possible that the bones were derived from an older
burial that was accidentally re-exposed through natural
processes or when a new grave was dug. But in many
instances the evidence points to reburial as part of
secondary burial rites.
M47, M50 and M52 at Schela Cladovei (Figure 8; V.
Boroneanț et al. 1999). At all three sites detached
crania occurred as isolated finds, in small groups,
and/or as inclusions in graves containing primary or
secondary inhumations. Judging from this evidence,
and isolated finds of crania at other sites, e.g. Icoana (A.
Boroneanț et al. 2008), skull removal appears to have
been a widespread practice in the Iron Gates Mesolithic.
Cremation
Cremation burials have occasionally been found in
Mesolithic contexts across Europe, from Greece to
southern Scandinavia (e.g. Arts and Hoogland 1987;
Cullen 1995; Fahlander 2008). Burned human remains
have also been reported from several sites in the Iron
Gates, most notably Vlasac.
Ten contexts containing cremated human remains were
identified during the 1970-71 excavations at Vlasac.
Fragmented burned bones occurred in piles (burials 35,
45a, 47a, 65a, 58a and 68) or in small pits (burials 11b,
54a, 85 and 86), often in close proximity to inhumation
 Adina Boroneanţ, Clive Bonsall

burials, or as sporadic finds within the infillings of
inhumation graves. The excavators suggested that the
cremations belonged to an early phase in the
Mesolithic occupation of the site (Srejović and Letica
1978, 75), but failed to demonstrate any stratigraphic
or chronological basis for this interpretation. Results of
anthropological analyses led Srejović and Letica to
conclude that cremation at Vlasac was reserved mainly
for individual adults (only one cremation deposit
comprising remains of more than one individual was
identified), and men more often than women, and that
cremations were always of the opposite sex to the
adjacent inhumations (Srejović and Letica 1978, 75-76).

Figure 9. Collective burial of an adult (M1) and child (M1bis) in trench L2N at Schela Cladovei, excavated in 1968. The upper part
of the adult’s skeleton had been destroyed by a later pit feature (photo: Vasile Boroneanț, drawing: A. Boroneanț).

More detailed information on Mesolithic cremation
practices at Vlasac was recovered during excavations
in 2006-7 (Borić, French and Dimitrijević 2008; Borić,
Raičevic and Stefanović 2009). A further 38 contexts
with cremated human remains were identified. These
were mainly concentrated in two areas, 10-20m apart,
which also contained clusters of inhumations. In one
area inhumations and cremations occurred in a
complex vertical sequence, with some examples of
cremations superposed by inhumations and vice versa.
In some cases burned bone fragments from cremations
could be conjoined with unburned fragments from
inhumation burials. From an analysis of the surface
coloration and condition of the burned bone fragments,
Borić, Raičevic and Stefanović (2009) concluded that
the bones had been burned with no soft tissue on them.
Thus the suggestion was made that bones from earlier
burials were disinterred, intentionally fragmented, and
then cremated in the immediate vicinity of the
inhumation burial or burials from which they came. A
reanalysis of the human bone material from the 1970-
71 excavations revealed similar patterns. Contrary to
Srejović and Letica’s (1978) interpretation, Borić,
Raičevic and Stefanović (2009) found that in most
cases the number of individuals within an individual
cremation deposit could not be reliably determined,
and that there was no apparent selection of individuals
for cremation by either sex or age group. From all these
lines of evidence Borić, Raičevic and Stefanović
(2009) concluded that the Vlasac cremations were
secondary burials. Direct AMS 14C dates were obtained
on a number of inhumation burials within each
area/burial sequence and used to suggest that the
secondary cremation burials span a period of at least
800 years, from c. 6800-6000 cal BC.

50
 Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic

Collective burial
The term ‘collective’ can be applied to any grave in
which the remains of more than one individual were
interred. Collective burials from the Iron Gates
Mesolithic can be divided into four types:
I. Graves containing primary and secondary burials;
II. Graves containing secondary burials of two or more
individuals;
III. Cremation deposits comprising the remains of two
or more individuals;
IV. Graves containing two or more primary inhumation
burials.

Examples of the first three have been mentioned above.

Collective primary burials (type IV) likely also exist in
the Iron Gates Mesolithic but can be difficult or
impossible to identify with certainty, since the outlines
of graves are often indistinct (see below).

Grave 2 at Velesnica, containing five articulated

skeletons and two partial skeletons (9DVLü, is an
undoubted collective burial, but the chronological
context may be Early Neolithic rather than Mesolithic.
There are instances, however, where the spatial
relationship between two or more Mesolithic skeletons
is suggestive of a collective burial. At Schela Cladovei
there are several examples of articulated skeletons
lying side-by-side or one directly above the other,
which may have been placed in the same grave. For
example, in Area III-IV excavated in 1990-92, the head
to foot arrangement of skeletons M43 and M46 (Figure
8; V. Boroneant et al. 1999) is strongly suggestive of a
collective burial. This evidence is consistent with the Figure 10. Schela Cladovei: extended supine burial at Schela
high incidence of violent trauma among Mesolithic Cladovei, excavated in 1996. This is one of a small number
skeletons from Schela Cladovei, including numerous of burials uncovered where the outline of the original burial
arrow injuries (V. Boronean‫ ܊‬and Nicolaescu-3ORS‫܈‬RU pit could be discerned (photo: Clive Bonsall).
1990; Bonsall 2008), which occasionally may have
produced multiple deaths. A more clear-cut example of Burial beneath low stone mounds (‘cairns’) has been
a collective inhumation burial from Schela Cladovei is documented occasionally at sites in the Iron Gates
burial M1 from trench L2N excavated in 1968, which gorge, most notably at Lepenski Vir (Bonsall et al.
comprises the lower half of the skeleton of an adult 2008) and Padina (‘the stone construction of the
with a child (M1bis) resting on the upper legs (Figure
9; A. %RURQHDQ‫܊‬DQGV. %RURQHDQ‫)܊‬.
Body disposal – graves and cemeteries
Only limited evidence survives of the grave
construction methods employed by the Mesolithic
inhabitants of the Iron Gates.
At Schela Cladovei there is evidence that both primary
and secondary burials were made in simple pits,
although for the great majority of burials the shape and
depth of the grave pit could not be discerned. In the
case of burial M96/8 (Figure 10; Bonsall et al. 2002)
the burial pit outline was visible only because it had
been dug through fine-grained alluvium and into an
underlying gravel deposit. In most cases, however, the
burial pit was likely cut entirely within the alluvium,
and the outline obscured or erased by soil processes.
Similarly, at Lepenski Vir the outlines of burial pits
were indistinct, except where the grave was cut through
the plaster floor of a ‘house’.
51
necropolis’ – %RULü DQG 0LUDFOH  ILJ . Cairn
burial would seem to hold two advantages over pit
burial in the context of Iron Gates Mesolithic burial
practices. Arguably, it is easier to exhume a body
from under a cairn and remove the skull or other
skeletal elements following excarnation (cf. Bonsall
et al. 2008), while new burials could have been added
to the cairn relatively easily. Thus it may seem
surprising that this type of grave construction was not
employed more frequently or more widely in the Iron
Gates, especially given the ready availability of stone
sources along the Danube in both the gorge and
downstream sections. On the other hand, cairn burial
perhaps carries with it a greater risk of a skeleton
being crushed by the weight of the material (stones)
above it.
The fact that skulls and individual bones were also
removed from pit burials as well as cairn burials with
(apparently) minimal disturbance of the rest of the
skeleton suggests that the locations of the bones were
known fairly precisely. This in turn raises the
 Adina Boroneanţ, Clive Bonsall
possibility that markers were placed on the ground
surface above or around the grave, although such
features might be difficult to identify archaeologically
for a variety of reasons. The placement in relation to
burials of some of the carved boulders found at
Lepenski Vir, and the cup-marked stones found at
Lepenski Vir and other sites, suggests that in some
cases they may have served as grave markers (see, e.g.,
Figure 8, and Srejović 1969, pl. 66).
Some burials were overlain or encircled by large stones,
although it is not always clear if the stone arrangements
were man-made or natural. In a few cases stones were
placed on top of a corpse before the grave was filled in,
for example burial 69 at Lepenski Vir (Figure 6, left).
On occasion, natural features appear to have been
incorporated into grave constructions. Examples include
the ‘chamber tomb’ at Hajdučka Vodenica, which
appears to have taken advantage of a wide crevice in the
limestone bedrock (Radovanović 1996, fig. 4.16), and
Vlasac burial 9, which is said to have been placed in a
natural hollow and surrounded by very large stones
(Borić, Raičevic and Stefanović 2009, 267, fig. 28).
At Lepenski Vir, Vlasac and Schela Cladovei (the sites
with the largest numbers of burials) graves occurred
more or less throughout the areas investigated. At
Schela Cladovei and Vlasac zones with particular
concentrations of burials were identified, and these
may have been designated burial areas (cemeteries)
that were in use for a limited period (Bonsall 2008;
Borić, Raičevic and Stefanović 2009). The term
‘cemetery’ could also be applied to the main burial
clusters at Hajdučka Vodenica and Padina (sector III),
since each contained a large number of burials within a
clearly circumscribed area, with evidence from Padina
that the burials were interred over a period of several
centuries (Borić and Miracle 2004).
At Vlasac and Schela Cladovei burials frequently
occurred around house pits or stone-lined hearths. In
some cases it can be shown that the emplacement of
the burials post-dated the abandonment of the
houses/hearths. In others the ‘association’ between
houses and burials appears to have been created when a
house pit was dug into a former burying ground
(Bonsall 2008).
At Lepenski Vir many burials, including those of
children (and especially neonates), were found under
the plaster floors of trapezoidal buildings or cut
through the plaster floors (Borić and Stefanović 2004).
There were also burials in the spaces between buildings
and in areas peripheral to the zone with buildings.
Generally, the buildings were excavated with much
greater care than the surrounding areas. To some extent,
therefore, the high frequency of ‘subfloor’ burials at
Lepenski Vir may be a function of the much higher
density of buildings at this site compared to others.
Genuine subfloor burials are not an obvious feature of
Mesolithic sites elsewhere in the Iron Gates. In the
52
1992-96 excavations at Schela Cladovei at least one
house pit was found with a burial underneath it and
another cut through its infilling, but the placement of
the burials with respect to the house appears to have
been fortuitous (C. Bonsall, personal observation).
Burial goods
The Iron Gates Mesolithic habit of placing burials in
areas that had previously been used for settlement,
burial or some other activity, and then refilling the
graves with material from the pit or surrounding areas,
means that objects found with a burial cannot always
be securely identified as grave goods. Occasional finds
of unmodified animal bones clearly fall into this
category with very rare exceptions, such as the aurochs
skull found on the right shoulder of burial 7/I at
Lepenski Vir (Srejović 1969, pl. 69).
Bone artefacts, even when found resting against a
skeleton, cannot always be accepted as burial goods.
For example, broken bone projectile points found with
inhumation burials at Schela Cladovei and Vlasac may
originally have been associated with injuries sustained
by the buried individuals (Bonsall 2008), although
Borić, Raičevic and Stefanović (2009, 274) interpreted
the presence of burnt examples in cremation pits at
Vlasac as related to mortuary rituals.
The most convincing examples of grave goods are the
marine shells and the bead-shaped crowns of
pharyngeal teeth from large carp found with a number
of burials at Schela Cladovei and Vlasac, which show
modifications perhaps for attachment to clothing and/or
(in the case of the shells) for suspension, and the stone
beads that accompanied some very late Mesolithic
burials from Vlasac (Borić, Raičevic and Stefanović
2009) and Lepenski Vir (Srejović 1969, pl. VII).
Many primary burials had no identifiable grave goods.
Presence or absence of burial goods may have been a
reflection of the social status of the buried individual,
or a mark of high or low esteem among family
members. In some cases where grave goods were not
identified, of course, they may have been overlooked
during excavation. Since mortuary rituals in the Iron
Gates Mesolithic often involved primary and
secondary stages of interment, another intriguing
possibility is that primary burials accompanied by
grave goods signalled the intent of a final interment
and, conversely, those without grave goods
represented ‘defleshing stage’ interments intended for
secondary burial (cf. Heath 2003). This hypothesis
would not preclude some ‘final’ primary burials from
being disinterred and reburied during acts of
‘cleansing’, as suggested by Borić, Raičevic and
Stefanović (2009).
Spatial and temporal trends in burial practices
Of the 400+ Mesolithic and Early Neolithic burials
recorded from sites in the Iron Gates, 55 have been
14
C-dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).
The evidence is summarized in Figure 11. However,
interpretation of the dates is not straightforward. Cook
 Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic
et al. (2001) showed that the Mesolithic inhabitants of
the Iron Gates regularly consumed fish from the
Danube, which resulted in their bones being depleted in
14
C, producing ages that are erroneously old by up to c.
500 years. It was also shown (Cook et al. 2002) that
14
C dates on human bone could be ‘corrected’ for the
Danube reservoir effect using the δ15N value of the
bone collagen, giving ages that are more accurate
though less precise. For example, a 14C age of 8380±80
BP from a bone with a δ15N value of +15.0‰ becomes
7960±97 BP after reservoir correction, using Method 1
of Cook et al. (2002).
Figure 12 presents a comparison of mortuary traits
between successive phases of the Iron Gates Mesolithic,
based on 46 14C-dated burials with median probability
ages between 9600 and 6000 cal BC (cf. Figure 11).
There are some obvious biases in the data presented in
Figures 11 and 12. Only five sites have usable 14C
dates, and only one of these, Schela Cladovei, is
located in the downstream area. The majority (47) of
the dates come from three sites, which results in a
marked clustering of dates in the later part of the time-
range, after c. 7200 BC, with only 8 directly dated
burials from the earlier part of Mesolithic. With the
exception of 24 dates from Lepenski Vir (reported by
Bonsall et al. 2008, table 1) 14C dating was not directed
specifically at identifying temporal variations in burial
practices.
With these caveats in mind, the main features of the
data presented in Figure 12 are:
1. The extended supine burial position is found
throughout the Mesolithic;
2. Flexed and semi-flexed inhumations occur in the
Early and Late Mesolithic, but are not represented
among the 13 dated burials from the period between
6300 and 6000 cal BC;
3. So far, secondary burial and skull removal are only
clearly attested in the period after 7200 cal BC,
although the lack of evidence from the Early
Mesolithic may be due to the small sample size;
4. Similarly, marine shells and carp teeth as burial
goods are known with certainty only from the later
phases of the Mesolithic;
5. Stone beads (and Spondylus shell ornaments) have
only been reported from burial contexts belonging the
period after c. 6300 cal BC, heralding a practice that
was more common in the Neolithic.
In addition, there appears to be no clear temporal
patterning in grave construction or in the orientation of
primary inhumations with respect to the Danube (not
included in Figure 12).
53
Conclusions
Our understanding of burial practices in the Iron Gates
Mesolithic has improved significantly over the past two
decades, thanks to new excavations at Schela Cladovei
and Vlasac, and the application of AMS 14C dating and
stable isotope analysis to human remains from a
number of sites. This paper has attempted to
summarize the current state of knowledge.
Graves were dug within the confines of settlements,
both within pit houses and around houses, although in
many cases it is likely that the houses were already
abandoned. Burials were often made in pits and more
rarely under stone heaps, although large stones were
sometimes placed on top of a corpse prior to filling in
the grave pit. Primary burials show significant
variability in body positioning, which is frequently
supine and extended, less commonly flexed or semi-
flexed. Other body dispositions occur but are far less
frequent; they include burials in sitting positions, and
supine burials with the legs flexed and splayed and the
feet together or crossed at the ankles.
No clear temporal patterning is evident in grave
construction, body positioning, or orientation of the
body with respect to the Danube. In the later
Mesolithic after c. 7200 cal BC, however, there is
evidence that mortuary rituals frequently involved
several stages, with some primary burials being
disinterred, or partially disinterred, and the bones
reburied. At Vlasac reburial was often preceded by
cremation, while at other sites secondary burial usually
took the form of inhumation of individual bones or
groups of disarticulated bones or body parts.
Disinterred bones were sometimes added to graves
containing a primary burial, and sometimes buried
separately. Skull removal/reburial (well known from
the Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic of the Near
East) is known from a number of Iron Gates sites, and
represents a particular aspect of the multistage burial
ritual that characterized the later stages of the
Mesolithic at least.
The Iron Gates sites are distributed along some 230 km
of the Lower Danube valley, and it is possible that
there were variations in mortuary practices across the
region, as well as through time. New 14C dates are
being prepared at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator
Unit on human remains from Velesnica, Ostrovul
Corbului, Climente II, Icoana, and Cuina Turcului. We
expect the results will contribute further to our
understanding of temporal and spatial variability in
burial practices during the Mesolithic and Early
Neolithic of the Iron Gates.
 Adina Boroneanţ, Clive Bonsall

Figure 11. Distribution of median probability ages for 55 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic burials from Padina, Lepenski Vir, Vlasac,
Hajdučka Vodenica and Schela Cladovei. Calibrations performed with CALIB 6 (Stuiver and Reimer, 1993; Stuiver, Reimer and
Reimer 2005) and the IntCal09 dataset (Reimer et al., 2009). Corrections for the ‘Danube Reservoir Effect’ were made using Method
1 of Cook et al. (2002). A 14C date of 7604±76 BP for a burial from Icoana, published by Dinu, Soficaru and Mirițoiu (2007), has not
been included because it has no associated δ15N value, hence a reservoir correction cannot be applied.

EARLY LATE FINAL

(9500-7200 BC) (7200-6300 BC) (6300-6000 BC)
Primary burial Extended ● ● ●
Flexed ● ●
Crouched
Ventral
Sitting ●
Butterfly ●
Secondary burial Disarticulated ● ●
Skull removal/reburial ● ●
Cremation ●
Collective burial ● ●
Grave construction Pit ○ ● ●
Cairn ● ●
Burial goods Shells/Carp teeth ● ●
Mammalian bone ●
Bone artefact ○ ○
Stone beads ●
Figure 12. Mortuary traits in the Iron Gates Mesolithic, as reflected in 46 directly dated burials with median probability ages older
than 6000 cal BC. Open circles indicate an element of uncertainty.

54
 Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic
Acknowledgements
We should like to thank the Institute of Archaeology,
Belgrade, for permission to reproduce the images
shown in Figures 6 and 7, and Dr Catriona Pickard for
her comments on a preliminary draft of the paper.
This paper was partly supported by the Sectorial
Operational Programme Human Resources
Development (SOP HRD), financed from the European
Social Fund and by the Romanian Government under
the contract number SOP HRD/89/1.5/S/59758.
References
Arts, N. and Hoogland, M. 1987. A Mesolithic
settlement area with a human cremation grave at
Oirschot V, municipality of Brest, the Netherlands.
Helinium 27, 172-189.
Bonsall, C. 2008. The Mesolithic of the Iron Gates, in
Bailey and P. Spikins (eds.), Mesolithic Europe, 238-
279. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Bonsall, C., Lennon, R., McSweeney, K., Stewart, C.,
Harkness, D., Boroneanţ, V., Payton, R., Bartosiewicz,
L. and Chapman, J.C. 1997. Mesolithic and Early
Neolithic in the Iron Gates: a palaeodietary perspective.
Journal of European Archaeology 5(1), 50-92.
Bonsall, C., Macklin, M.G., Payton, R.W. and Boroneanț,
A. 2002. Climate, Floods and River Gods: Environment
al Change and the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in
Southeast Europe. Before Farming 3_4(2), 1-15.
Bonsall, C., Radovanović, I., Roksandic, M., Cook,
G.T., Higham, T. and Pickard, C. 2008. Dating burial
practices and architecture at Lepenski Vir, in C.
Bonsall, V. Boroneanţ and I. Radovanović (eds.), The
Iron Gates in Prehistory, 175-204. Oxford,
Archaeopress.
Bonsall, C., Cook, G.T., Pickard, C., McSweeney, K.,
Bartosiewicz, L., Sayle, K., Radovanović, I., Higham,
T.F.G. and Boroneanț, A. (forthcoming).
Distinguishing between freshwater- and terrestrial-
based diets? A Mesolithic case study from the Iron
Gates. In Proceedings of the Eighth International
Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Santander,
Spain. 13th-17th September 2010.
Borić, D. 2006. New discoveries at the Mesolithic-
Early Neolithic site of Vlasac: preliminary notes.
Mesolithic Miscellany 18(1), 7-14.
Borić, D. and Dimitrijević, V. 2009. Apsolutna
hronologija i stratigrafija Lepenskog Vira. Starinar 62
(2007), 9-55.
Borić, D. and Miracle, P. 2004. Mesolithic and Neolithic
(dis)continuities in the Danube gorges: new AMS dates
from Padina and Hajdučka Vodenica (Serbia). Oxford
Journal of Archaeology 23(4), 341-371.
55
Borić, D. and Stefanović, S. 2004. Birth and death:
infant burials from Vlasac and Lepenski Vir. Antiquity
78, 526-546.
Borić, D., French, C. and Dimitrijević, V. 2008. Vlasac
revisited: formation processes, stratigraphy and dating.
Documenta Praehistorica 35, 261-287.
Borić, D., Raičevic, J. and Stefanović, S. 2009.
Mesolithic cremations as elements of secondary
mortuary rites at Vlasac (Serbia). Documenta
Praehistorica 36, 247-282.
Boroneanţ, A. 2010. Ostrovul Corbului – o discuţie
asupra mormintelor mezolitice şi neolitice timpurii.
Buletinul Muzeului Judeţean Teleorman. Seria
Arheologie 2, 1-23.
Boroneanţ, A., Boroneanţ, V., Miriţoiu, N. and
Soficaru, A. 2008. The Icoana burials revisited. Studii
de Preistorie 5, 51-60.
Boroneanț, A. and Boroneanț, V. 2009. Schela
Cladovei 1965-1968. După 40 de ani. Studii de
Preistorie 6, 6-34.
Boroneanț, V. 1970. Un mormînt din perioada de
trecere de la Paleoliticul Superior la Epipaleolitic.
Studii şi Cercetări de Istorie Veche şi Arheologie 21,
129-132.
Boroneanț, V. and Nicolaescu Plopșor D. 1990.
Lésions traumatiques violents datant de
l’épipaleolithique tardif du sud-ouest de la Roumanie.
Antropologie 28(1), 55-65.
Boroneanț, V., Bonsall, C., McSweeney, K., Payton, R.
and Macklin, M. 1999. A Mesolithic burial area at
Schela Cladovei, Romania. In A. Thévenin (ed.),
L’Europe des Derniers Chasseurs: Épipaléolithique et
Mésolithique, 385-390. Paris, Éditions du Comité des
Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques.
Cook, G.T., Bonsall, C., Hedges, R.E.M., McSweeney,
K., Boroneanţ, V. and Pettitt, P.B. 2001. A freshwater
diet-derived 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites
in the Iron Gates gorge. Radiocarbon 43(2A), 453-460.
Cook, G.T., Bonsall, C., Hedges, R.E.M., McSweeney,
K., Boroneanţ, V., Bartosiewicz, L. and Pettitt, P.B.
2002. Problems of dating human bones from the Iron
Gates. Antiquity 76, 77-85.
Cullen, T. 1995. Mesolithic mortuary ritual at
Franchthi Cave, Greece. Antiquity 69, 270-289.
Dinu, A., Soficaru, A. and Mirițoiu, D. 2007. The
Mesolithic at the Danube’s Iron Gates: new
radiocarbon dates and old stratigraphies. Documenta
Praehistorica 34, 31-52.
 Adina Boroneanţ, Clive Bonsall
Fahlander, F. 2008. A piece of the Mesolithic.
Horizontal stratigraphy and bodily manipulations at
Skateholm, in F. Fahlander and T. Oestigaard (eds.),
The Materiality of Death: Bodies, Burials, Beliefs, 29-
45. Oxford, Archaeopress.
Heath, C.L. 2003. Woodland Period mortuary variability
in the Lower Roanoke River Valley: perspectives from
the Jordan’s Landing, Sans Souci and Dickerson sites.
Research Paper Presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of
the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Charlotte,
North Carolina, November 12-15, 2003.
Jovanović, B. 1969. Hajdučka Vodenica. In Đ.
Bošković (ed.), Stare Kulture u Đerdapu, 142-147.
Belgrade, SANU.
Mikić, Ž. and Sladić, M. 1994. Ostaci mezolitskog
čoveka iz Kule u Đerdapu. Zbornik Filozofskog
fakulteta 18, 37-41.
Mogoșanu, F. 1978. Mezoliticul de la Ostrovul Corbului,
o nouă așezare de tip Schela Cladovei. Studii și
Cercetări de Istorie Veche și Arheologie 29(3), 335-351.
Nehlich, O., Borić, D., Stefanović, S. and Richards,
M.P. 2010. Sulphur isotope evidence for freshwater
fish consumption: a case study from the Danube
Gorges, SE Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science
37, 1131-1139.
Păunescu, A. 1990. Locuirea mezolitică de tip Schela
Cladovei de la Ostrovul Corbului (jud. Mehedinţi).
Studii și Cercetări de Istorie Veche și Arheologie 41,
123-147.
Premk, A., Popović, P. and Bjelajac, Lj. 1984. Vajuga-
Pesak: fouilles de sondage de 1980. Đerdapske sveske
2, 118-124.
Radovanović, I. 1996. The Iron Gates Mesolithic. Ann
Arbor (MI), International Monographs in Prehistory.
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck,
J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E.,
Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M.,
Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G.,
Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac,
F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A.,
Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., van der
Plicht, J., Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2009. IntCal09 and
Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000
years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, 1111-1150.
56
Roksandic, M. 2000. Between foragers and farmers in
the Iron Gates gorge: physical anthropology
perspective. Documenta Praehistorica 27, 1-100.
Roksandic, M. 2008. The human osteological material
from Velesnica, in C. Bonsall, V. Boroneanţ and I.
Radovanović (eds.), The Iron Gates in Prehistory, 243-
249. Oxford, Archaeopress.
Sladić, M. 1986. Kula près de Mihajlovac – un site
préhistorique: compte-rendu des fouilles de 1980.
Đerdapske sveske 3, 432-440.
Sladić, M. 2007. Архитектура раних праисторијских
насеља на локалитету Кула код Михајловца (The
architecture of early prehistoric settlements on the site
of Kula at Mihajlovac). Archaica 1, 9-40.
Srejović, D. 1969. Лепенски Вир. Нова
Праисторијска Култура у Подунављу (Lepenski Vir:
a New Prehistoric Culture in the Danube Region).
London, Thames and Hudson.
Srejović, D. and Letica, Z. 1978. Vlasac. A Mesolithic
Settlement in the Iron Gates. Volume 1, Archaeology.
Belgrade, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Stalio, B. 1986. Le site préhistorique Ajmana à Mala
Vrbica. Đerdapske sveske 3, 27-50.
Stanković, S. 1986. Embouchure du Ruisseau
Kamenicki Potok site du groupe de Starčevo: compte-
rendu des fouilles de 1981. Đerdapske sveske 3, 467-471.
Stuiver, M. and Reimer, P.J. 1993. Extended 14C data
base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration
program. Radiocarbon 35(1), 215-230.
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. and Reimer, R. 2005. CALIB
Radiocarbon Calibration (rev. 5.0.2), On-line Manual.
http://radiocarbon.pa.qub.ac.uk/calib/manual/
Vasić, R. 1986. Compte-rendu des fouilles du site
préhistorique à Velesnica 1981-1982. Đerdapske
sveske 3, 264-285.
Vasić, R. 2008. Velesnica and the Lepenski Vir Culture,
in C. Bonsall, V. Boroneanţ and I. Radovanović (eds.),
The Iron Gates in Prehistory: New Perspectives, 227-
241. Oxford, Archaeopress.