Bloxam, Anna; (2020) The other Beaker people: funerary diversity in Britain c.2450-1950 BC. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

In this thesis I present a novel re-examination of the burial practices of the British Beaker period, c. 2450–1950 BC, along with an exploration of how our understandings of the period should be adjusted in light of this new evidence. I compile a new dataset of burials that are atypical for the period, and which have been excluded from previous narratives, in order to demonstrate that the Beaker Phenomenon in Britain was associated with a high level of funerary diversity. I adopt an interdisciplinary approach, using radiocarbon modelling, archaeological and osteological analyses, and genetic data to demonstrate that insular Neolithic cultural practices continued, in a blended and syncretic form, alongside a wide range of incoming cultural practices across the Beaker period. I argue that this blending of diverse cultural traditions is the reason for diversity within the British Beaker phenomenon and provides an explanation for its divergence from continental Beaker-associated traditions. I explore patterning within the diverse Beaker-period burial traditions, and present evidence for regional cultural traditions, age and gender-related social differentiation, extensive Neolithic referencing, and the centrality of bodily disintegration to the different rites utilised in this period.

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