The clustered cemetery at Xeropigado, Kozani, is located on the SE edge of the basin of Kitrini Limni and was discovered in 1987. The 17th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classic Antiquities carried out rescue excavations between 1995-1998, revealing 214 prehistoric graves (32 cist graves, 91 stone-enclosed graves, 54 pits, 26 urn-burials) with 222 burials. The associated with the cemetery settlement remains unknown. Considering the artifacts and the absolute dating of selected skeletal remains, the cemetery is dated between the EHII and the MHIII (2450/2400-1750/1700 BC).
Regarding the treatment of the dead, inhumations predominate as a burial practice, and 12 secondary cremations were identified, two of which coexisted with inhumations. The burnt human remains were placed inside urns (storage vessels or jugs), in small pits, and in cist or stone-enclosed graves. Most of the cremations were found without any accompanying funerary object, while in cases where grave goods (pottery, jewelry, exotic objects) were present, they were placed inside the urn or inside the grave. The osteoarchaeological study of the human remains from the inhumations was carried out by S. Triantaphyllou. In the framework of the research project TEFRA, the burnt human remains from nine cremation burials will be extensively examined.
References
Ζιώτα, Χ. Κ. (2007). Ταφικές Πρακτικές και Κοινωνίες της Εποχής του Χαλκού στη Δυτική Μακεδονία: Τα Νεκροταφεία στην Κοιλάδα και στις Γούλες Κοζάνης. (unpublished PhD dissertation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki