Re: Early Christian Danes

In sci.archaeology message
news:1hdnp51.kmej2exnwth5N%per@xxxxxxxxxxxxx by per@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Per Rønne) . . . :

<greymaus@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 19:29:37 +0200, Per Rønne wrote:
Uwe Müller <uwemueller@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There are 321graves from Kongemarken, for the time of use,
250 years, that would add up to a little more than one
burial per year.

Perhaps graves were re-used ? That is what happens to-day.
Usually, graves are discontinued after 20 years, and other
people are buried in them. After all, usually nothin remains
of the dead body or the coffin after 20 years.

The exception, of course, is people of importance. Their
graves may "survive" for centuries, even millenia.

There is a small graveyard at Knavinstown, near Kildare town,
KIldare, Ireland that seems to be _very_ old. The level of the
enclosed graveyard is about 2 metres above the surrounding
field.

Due to special conditions in the ground, bodies may survive for
an extremely long time. This is why occasionally, we come across
bog finds.

The acidic low oxygen conditions of central Irish bogs preserves soft
tissue but destroy bones and other acid soluble structures. Some of
the peat bogs in canada contain organic material from the end of the
last ice age, so acid loving are the dead moses that the deplete the
water of just about all minerals making life in those bogs incredibly
difficult.
.