Objectives

Although the occurrence of heat-induced effects on human remains in the Aegean with a particular emphasis on cremated remains has drawn the attention of modern scholars, there is not a synthetic and holistic overview to explore the phenomenon in space and time.

TEFRA research program aims to approach the practice of burning of the human body in a chronological horizon which extends from the Neolithic (7th mill. BCE) to the Early Iron Age (11th-9th c. BC), according to two dimensions: the technology of the use of fire and the bio-anthropology that is the demographic synthesis and the biological attributes of the people whose bodies were subjected to burning.

The technology of the use of fire in human remains will shed light in technological aspects regarding the physical process of combustion, which involves, for example, the collection of the fuel, the selection of a proper location, and the building up of the pyre, the effort to control the fire regarding duration and temperature. Also, ritual practices with decisions taken before, during and after the transformation of the body into fragments will be equally considered. The latter will include the collection of the remains, their possible transportation and secondary burial elsewhere away from the primary location of burning, the potential use of a burial receptacle as well as the involvement of ritualized acts related, for example, to the consumption of food and the deposition of associated artifacts before, during and after the act of burning.

The investigation of the bio-anthropology of the people who were subjected to burning will explore the biological and/or social criteria correlated with the choice of cremation in the past. The integration of information derived from the different disciplines will offer a complete comprehension of the biological (age, sex, health status, origin) and social criteria made by the living to employ this practice for members or broader groups of the community.