The Roman and Byzantine Graves and Human Remains

©2012 The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
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2 themes, ProCedures, and materials
themes and aPProaChes
these graves and human remains furnish valuable evidence concerning society, religion,
economy, and biology in the Corinthian countryside from roman to byzantine times, particularly
for the late roman and early byzantine periods. When considered together with
associated traces of habitation, the mortuary and skeletal remains bear vivid testimony not
only to how these people died but also to how they lived. the graves, their contents, and
their locations were used by the local community in an intentional and meaningful manner.
When men, women, and children participated in the ritual process of mourning, interment,
and commemoration, they identified themselves according to social relationships and expressed
their beliefs concerning life and death. a close examination of the material remains
of these funerary rituals can therefore reveal the social, economic, and religious character
of the community and its composition by gender, age, descent, and status. Furthermore,
study of the human bones and teeth can reveal the demographic structure, diet, occupational
hazards, and health of local residents.
the larger significance of the graves, the human remains, and the settlement emerges
when they are considered within the frame of regional trends. 6 the full variability of mortuary
6. For approaches to mortuary and biological variability on
a regional scale, see, e.g., o’shea 1984, beck 1995a, and silverman
and small 2002.
Figure 1.1. the isthmus of Corinth