From the birth of the corpse to the archaeological burial: for a well-reasonned application of forensic data in burial practices analysis

D. BOUQUIN¹/ G. DEPIERRE²/ J.-P. BEAUTHIER³
(¹Service archéologique Reims Métropole / Univ. de Bourgogne France / ²LABO-Univ. Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique/, France/³LABO-Univ. Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique)

Keywords: forensic science, archaeology of death, burial practices analysis

Abstract:
Within the framework of archaeological burial practices analysis, the archaeologist works on the burial documentation on order to try restituting its initial state (shape of the pit, initial position of the deceased and the non perishable artifacts that are associated to him, etc.). Those archaeological and anthropological parameters are essentials to understand the way the burial was established and so, the way the livings reacted face to the death of one of them.
The skeleton, the main subject of our analysis, is the result of the decomposition of the cadaver, thus, it is natural that this process is taken in account in our analysis.
Even if today that assessment can be evident, the main works associating forensic sciences and archaeology are punctual and are essentially aimed at osteological, microbiological or entomological analysis.
The goal of this presentation is to deal with the interest of comparing forensic sciences data (decay process, behaviour of the corpse during the cremation, etc.) to the archaeological reality so as to suggest several hypothesis about the restitution of population of the past’s burial practices. Hypothesis that also need to be regulated by limits that are closely linked to the objectives and the methodologies of each disciplines.