Poster de conférence
Résumé : If post-cremation life histories of cremains and cremation-related deposits can be readily investigated as they refer to the last handling of the deceased, the treatment of the corpse during the burning act itself is little addressed by textual sources and often discussed in anthropological studies. Among the topics discussed are questions whether the individuals were buried clothed or not and criteria for evaluating indirectly the wealth of deceased or their social statue in the past. Here we aim to identify, through stable isotope evidences (δ13C, δ18O) on calcined bones, if the deceased was buried shoed or not, as the shoes are likely one of the most resistant clothing items to fire and might represent a proxy to discuss the presence of any garments items inside the burial. For this, we have carried out experimental cremations with shoed and unshoed pig feet (n=12) in outdoors pyres in Belgium. It is hypothesized that foot bones encased in shoes might experience heating conditions characteristic to confined-space cremation (low oxygen availability, poorly ventilated). These heating conditions could be related to the fact of presence or absence of shoes. Recent advances in biogeochemical techniques present a unique opportunity to finally be able to characterize the cremation and bring a new breakthrough in our current archaeo-anthropological knowledge of the burning act itself through time.

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