"Until death do us part". A multidisciplinary study on human- Animal co- burials from the Late Iron Age necropolis of Seminario Vescovile in Verona (Northern Italy, 3rd-1st c. BCE). ...

• Main Authors: Laffranchi, Zita, Zingale, Stefania, Tecchiati, Umberto, Amato, Alfonsina, Coia, Valentina, Paladin, Alice, Salzani, Luciano, Thompson, Simon R, Bersani, Marzia, Dori, Irene, Szidat, Sönke, Lösch, Sandra, Ryan-Despraz, Jessica, Arenz, Gabriele, Zink, Albert, Milella, Marco
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Public Library of Science 2024
• Subjects: 610 Medicine & health; 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology; 570 Life sciences; biology; 540 Chemistry; 900 History; 000 Computer science, knowledge & systems; 800 Literature, rhetoric & criticism; 100 Philosophy; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/192911; https://boris.unibe.ch/192911/

Animal remains are a common find in prehistoric and protohistoric funerary contexts. While taphonomic and osteological data provide insights about the proximate (depositional) factors responsible for these findings, the ultimate cultural causes leading to this observed mortuary behavior are obscured by the opacity of the archaeological record and the lack of written sources. Here, we apply an interdisciplinary suite of analytical approaches (zooarchaeological, anthropological, archaeological, paleogenetic, and isotopic) to explore the funerary deposition of animal remains and the nature of joint human-animal burials at Seminario Vescovile (Verona, Northern Italy 3rd-1st c. BCE). This context, culturally attributed to the Cenomane culture, features 161 inhumations, of which only 16 included animal remains in the form of full skeletons, isolated skeletal parts, or food offerings. Of these, four are of particular interest as they contain either horses (Equus caballus) or dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)-animals ...