ABSTRACT
Burial practices and human representations are the building blocks of the body worlds of early Iron Age central Europe. Long-term trends in treating the body after death include a change from cremation to inhumation during the Hallstatt period; some areas use both inhumation and cremation side by side, whereas others persistently keep cremating their dead. A move away from single burials to grave sites for more persons is but one symptom of an increased emphasis on family ties and genealogy. Objects in graves include dress elements and grave gifts, as well as grave furnishings; the selection and size of the assemblage is thought to comment on the social status of the deceased. Some of the dead were buried within settlement contexts, but the majority were buried in dedicated places. Located near settlements and along pathways, burial mounds form impressive landscapes of the dead that were experienced through travelling.
