Burial and memorial in Late Antiquity: perspectives and opportunities

This article provides an overview of the archaeology of funerary and memorial customs in Late Antiquity, setting the work presented in this volume in a wider context. It points out the significance of the period’s funerary archaeology beyond mortuary behaviour, considering its contribution to studies of social structure, cultural identity, demography, health, and dress. Of direct pertinence to the funerary process, are the composition of cemetery populations, in which the treatment of the newborn, or sometimes the unborn, is especially significant. There are also trends relating to ‘deviant burial’ practices. The changing nature of memorial structures, from stellae to mausolea is considered. Grave goods reveal a decline but with some special consideration of children and young adults, with meaningful gifts rather than status markers. Science now says much about burial ritual, from embalming to the flowers placed in graces. However, texts give us non-material aspects of funerary and memorial rites, from processions to charitable meals. The treatment of graves over time reveals some instances of protection, some of desacralisation, sometimes earlier or later than thought. Memorial as a burial priority seems to have been on the decline. Even so, monumental tombs were not always targeted in building works, sometimes preserved longer than one might expect. Late antique society also had other outlets for memorial than burial, some of which were collective, as well as individual.