Archeologia śmierci : stan i potencjał
2001, 44, Tom 44, Nr B
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Ludzka śmierć, będąca z oczywistych względów zjawiskiem powszechnym, pozostawiła po sobie niezliczone ślady widoczne dla archeologa. Do najważniejszych należą groby i cmentarzyska. Przez większość dziejów cieszyły się one niesłabnącą popularnością wśród rabusiów i kolekcjonerów, dostarczając wielu niezwykłych znalezisk, poruszających wyobraźnię szerokich rzesz publiczności. Kariera dyscypliny uprawianej przez autora niniejszego tekstu - archeologii mykeńskiej - zaczęła się od pamiętnych, wielkich odkryć H. Schliemanna w Okręgu Grobów Szybowych A na akropoli mykeńskiej. Z czasem zaczęto sobie coraz lepiej uświadamiać, że groby oraz cmentarzyska zawierają wielką ilość informacji o społeczeństwach i kulturach, które je po sobie pozostawiły. Odmienność grobów od innych źródeł archeologicznych wynika ze szczególnej natury konstrukcji grzebalnych. W wielu miejscach na świecie powstawały one, by trwać wiecznie. Jeśli nawet służyły kolejnym generacjom, to po ostatecznym zamknięciu - gdy nie zostały zniszczone lub obrabowane - wiele się w nich już nie zmieniało (tym, co może się dziać w grobie po jego zamknięciu, zajmiemy się w dalszej części tekstu). Inne budowle podlegają ciągłym zmianom, a po ich opuszczeniu zostają w ten, czy inny sposób zniszczone, pozbawione swej pierwotnej zawartości, często na ich miejscu buduje się nowe domy, świątynie czy magazyny. Wyjątkiem są miasta w rodzaju Pompejów lub Akrotiri, zniszczonych nagle i zagrzebanych w popiołach wulkanicznych, dzięki czemu stanowią nieoceniony, bezpośredni przekaz z przeszłości. W przypadku grobów - większość z nich zawiera w sobie taki właśnie przekaz. Archeolog, otwierając dobrze zachowany grób, staje nagle wobec sytuacji zamrożonej w czasie: te obiekty, które przetrwały znajdują się dokładnie tam, gdzie zostały umieszczone przez uczestników pochówku (przynajmniej tego ostatniego, jeśli mamy do czynienia z obyczajem składania wielu zmarłych w jednym grobie). Tak bogate i szczególne źródła wiedzy o przeszłości wymagają dogłębnej analizy, która pozwoli zrozumieć ów przekaz.<br>ARCHAEOLOGY OF DEATH - ITS PRESENT STATE AND POTENTIAL. This paper presents a review of all aspects of archaeology of death. Burials and graves belong to the major archaeological sources. There are numerous archaeological cultures known mainly from their cemeteries. Archaeologists, especially those for whom remnants of funeral activities are the most important sources, try to learn on this base as much as possible about past peoples. However, this is not a straightforward task. After decades of theoretical debates and practical implementations of theories we are now conscious of limitations of all methods using burials as their study material. There are two main groups of questions we can try to answer basing on funeral sources. The first one concerns burial customs, rituals, believes on death etc. Here the situation is quite clear. We can learn much on these questions especially when using ethnoarchaeologial methods. The second one, much more debated, concerns structure and organization of past peoples, their hierarchy, stratification etc. The author of this paper is much skeptic about possibilities of finding satisfying answers to these questions. The reason is that burial customs very rarely mirror real organization of living societies. During burial rites people build ideal societies, they express their feeling about death and dead people, use many symbols which have nothing to do with the everyday life. All reconstructions of living societies based on studies of cemeteries have to be confronted with our knowledge of these societies build upon other sources (iconographical, literary) but still their results will be questionable.
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