8 Grave Goods and Burial Typologies: Funerary Customs in Ravenna

Abstract

: The transformation and development of burial rites between the 4th and the 8th centuries were not uniform and there were various intermediate stages according to different towns and the variability of the archaeological record. This paper analyses a sample of Ravenna and its territory focusing on the practice of laying object with the dead, the presence of grave goods inside tombs and their ritual significance, as well as the types of burials and the concept of funerary space used within the new imperial see. The archaeological excavation and new research of the basilica and monastery of San Severo and the port area at Classe offer a lot of knowledge for understanding funerary practice and the relationship between the space of the living and the space of the dead in Late Antiquity and at the beginnings of the Middle Ages. From the 5th century the relationship between the living and the dead changes. The spaces of the living and the dead were not separated but united in the everyday sphere as interactive categories, also in Ravenna and its territory. The location of the burials is founded on the belief that the spaces within which funeral ritual and burials took place had an important effect on their form and experienced meaning, and that, reciprocally, ritual uses produced or constituted urban spaces. Death is part of everyday life, and the burials are close to homes. This change in the man-agement of the urban spaces reflects a new cultural and social concept. The intra-mural burials may yield important evidence on urban religion, ritual, social change organization and topography. 1 Roman types different regions. Roman cappuccina, sarcophagi enchytrismos , and new ones appeared. late 5th use of funerary inscriptions begins to recede does not disappear completely.