A Few Remarks on the Presence of Wood in Funeral Rites of the Lusatian Cultural in the Lublin Region

Abstract

In the Early Iron Age, there were burial cemeteries (Bliskowice, Krupy, Lublin-Jakubowice Murowane) in the Lublin region where wooden chests/sarcophagi were built, probably as family graves. These cemeteries were arranged in order: rows of graves were running along the E-W axis, and each chest was located along the S-N axis. The dead, equipped with vessels and animal food, were burnt together with the chest. This custom refers to the burial rite performed by the population of the Western-Podolian Scythian culture. Previously, in the Bronze Age, population of the Lusatian culture used wood during funerary rites, but to a lesser extent (palisades and fences).