From Life to Death: Dynamics of Personhood in Gallo-Roman Funerary Customs, Luxemburg Province, Belgium
This chapter explores the identification of, and changes in, aspects of personhood through the study and interpretation of funerary customs. The geographical and temporal foci are the Luxembourg province of south-eastern Belgium from AD 1–150 where variations in social and political organization are well documented but cremation funeral customs are not. This research explores one overarching question: how did the personhood of the deceased change throughout the different stages of cremation customs within and between two contemporary Gallo-Roman sites located in the Belgian province of Luxembourg? The sites selected are Weyler (Henrotay 2011; Henrotay and Bossicard 1999), located in Arlon, and Houffalize, located in Houffalize/Mont (Henrotay 2012) (Fig. 9.1). Two primary datasets were utilized: 1) biological profiles of the human skeletal remains, and, 2) posthumous treatments of bodies inferred from analysis of the remains within their burial contexts. In this chapter, we also contrast these findings with historical accounts of cremation customs among ancient Roman populations.We argue that Gallo-Roman mortuary practices mediated the dead from biological death through a liminal state where personhood was transformed from subject to object/subject before final burial. The concept of personhood is employed in identity research across the social sciences, and in recent years also has been applied in archaeology (e.g. Fowler 2005; Jones 2005). Our research employs the notion of personhood—what constituted the state or condition of being a person—to elucidate the portrayal of individuals in the past. This definition follows previous research in the concept (e.g. Brück 2006a, 2006b; Fowler 2010; Williams 2004a). Throughout an individual’s life social relationships change and new ones are formed. These also are dependent on the individual’s age, sex, class, race, disabilities, and particular group affiliations, among other factors. Mauss (1985) posited that frames of reference for personhood changed through time and space, according to distinct cultural ideologies. Building on this idea Meyer Fortes (1987) added that personhood also was negotiated and dependent upon social relationships and in light of specific moral codes. These ideas suggest that personhood is a social category, that it is inherently dynamic and relational and that it only takes on meaning through the enactment of relationships.