Funerary Traditions of the Bronze Age Metallurgical Communities in the Iron Gates Hinterland

Abstract

Metallurgical communities in the Iron Gates hinterlands are best presented through necropolises, for which traditions of Urnfield Culture influences can be recognized. Only four necropolises have been noted for being clearly connected with the metallurgical communities so far. Anthropological analyses were made on a smaller number of osteological finds, but even these data are sufficient to help reach new conclusions regarding the funerary traditions and relationship towards the deceased, characteristic for the period of the Late Bronze Age. Apart from the osteological analyses, this paper shall also present the results obtained through scanning electronic microscopy, contributing to the confirmation of some earlier theories proposed by the authors regarding the cremations of the deceased during the Bronze Age.