Science, a cremation site for human remains in South Tyrol unveils the mysteries of the Bronze Age

The archaeological site of SalornoDos de la Forca (Bolzano, South Tyrol) offers one of the rarest and most significant evidence of cremations of human remains at an ancient cremation platform (ustrinum) in the Bronze Age.
The pyre area is more specifically dated to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1150-950 BC) and an unprecedented amount of cremated human remains (about 63.5 kilograms), along with burned animals, bone fragments were found , pottery shards and other funerary objects in bronze and bone.
The new study carried out a bioanthropological analysis of human remains and compared the formation of the unusual deposits of cremated remains in Salorno with modern cremation practices and similar archaeological deposits.
The authors suggest that this cremation site may have been used for several generations by a small community, possibly a local elite. With a quantity of human remains that exceeds that of any other contemporary site interpreted as ustrinum, Salorno could be the product of a complex series of rituals in which the cremated human remains were not then given an individual burial, but were left in place, creating an area of ​​repeated funeral ceremonies involving offerings and libations extended over a few generations. . This would represent a new typological and functional category that adds to the variability of mortuary customs at the end of the Bronze Age in the Alpine areas.