Marginalization, Infection or Outcast: What's Up with the Medieval grave 43 of the Milavići Site in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Le résumé fourni par la source
Among the numerous stećci graves excavated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, grave 43 from Milavići in Dabarsko polje stands out. The grave from a communal cemetery with over 390 stećci tombstones dated from 12th to 16th century, was located within a Late-antique basilica (4th-5th century), beneath a large, decorated stećak. This non-normative burial, with the skeleton discovered in a prone position, is atypical for the time and place. While grave 43 is of an adult, highly likely female and is the most non-normative, it does not stand alone as atypical. It resembles the medieval burials from a nearby transhumant station in Busovača, Nevesinje, and a reclaimed prehistoric mound at Baljci, Bileća. Given the importance of proper burial treatment in medieval Christian communities, such a deviation is particularly noteworthy. Non-normative burial practices may indicate collective social anxiety and tensions. The interpretative possibilities considered range from the hypothesis that the individual was marginalized within their community to a reaction to death from an infectious disease. Against this murky backdrop, bioarchaeological analysis, aDNA pathogen analysis, and archaeothanatological examination are currently underway and shall be completed within the forthcoming months to test these hypotheses. This comprehensive approach will be complemented by a comparative study with other stećci burials associated with suspected infectious diseases. With this presentation, we aim to demonstrate how individual cases areable to provide new perspectives on the broader interpretation of medieval societies through the intersection of biological and social facets. In such cases, the exploration of the non-normative sheds light on the social reaction of the community to the unfamiliar and the unusual.
Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.