ABSTRACT
The arrival and spread of Christianity in western Europe from the 4th century onwards are commonly considered a turning point in funeral practices and burial customs. The typical Christian burial is traditionally characterised by a regular W-E orientation; absence of grave goods; and funerary architecture that is restricted to pits, stone-cists, and sarcophagi. This chapter uses new data provided by recent excavations as well as new studies in burial archaeology to demonstrate a very different dynamic in the north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula. This chapter aims to demonstrate long-term variations in burial practices in the north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula from the 1st to the 10th centuries CE, and critically assess their relation to a slow societal change.
