CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BURIAL AND THE
OTHERWORLD
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Gerald A. Wait
INTRODUCTION
I
t is a truism to observe that all people die. It is equally true to observe that
the death of a loved one is one of the most traumatic events in life. Beliefs
about the nature of life, death and what happens thereafter, are profoundly religious
in nature. The study of burials brings the archaeologist into the closest possible
contact with a vanished people and society - providing both the remains of the
individuals and one of the very few enduring examples of very deliberate, and inher-
ently meaningful, belief-laden activities. Jean-Louis Brunaux has phrased it thus:
'it would be more correct to see the [world of the dead] as the terrain of an ideology
- not simply funerary, but more broadly religious and eschatological.' Burials and
funerary practices are of unequalled value to the archaeologist.
There is a multitude of intervening factors between the archaeologist and an
understanding of Celtic burial practices and Celtic beliefs about the Otherworld.
These must be considered first, before discussing in rather more detail just what
sources of information are available, and what those sources have to say about the
Celtic world.
The first and mo'st important point is that the archaeological record (which is
almost all the information available over most of the time and area discussed) is of
itself almost mute. The archaeological artefacts and contexts acquire meaning
through a process of argument by analogy. It is therefore important that the analogies
be selected with care.
A second and equally important point is that specific religious beliefs about death
and the Otherworld need not be reflected in specific practices, and vice versa. Put
simply, a belief in life after death may be instituted by the practice of cremation,
but is equally likely to be implemented by inhumation burial. Lastly, the vagaries of
survival that plague all archaeological evidence must be mentioned. It is all too likely
that crucial evidence was made of perishable materials and is unlikely to survive in
its usual context; therefore if it survives in an unusual context its relevance may not
be recognized.