Inserting the dead in living spaces in Bronze Age Southern Italy: the case of Coppa Nevigata

Burial in the Italian Bronze Age is often thought to consist mostly of single burials, cremations in necropolises or collective burials in tombs. Multidisciplinary study of Coppa Nevigata (Apulia), an important fortified living and trading site on the Adriatic coast, also provides exceptional evidence for a range of funerary rituals. Combining archaeological context and bioarchaeological analysis with new studies of funerary taphonomy, we trace three core modes of deposition within this habitation site: burial, exposure and intentional secondary deposition of single bones, with evident movement of remains between all funerary contexts. Integrated with new isotopic and aDNA analyses, some differences emerge between these three depositional modes. As a result, we suggest that these diverse deathways were motivated by a range of factors, including the power of bones and ancestors, sentiments of group belonging, and political claims.