Women and their funerals in 6th century Northern Gaul

Author(s)

Marina Duarte Sanchez

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2022-07-18

Examining board members

Marcelo Candido da Silva; Marta Mega de Andrade; Adrien Bayard; Isabelle Cartron

• Advisor: Marcelo Candido da Silva

Abstract

This research aims to examine how the material and immaterial resources of elite families from Northern Gaul were employed in the funerary ceremonies of four women, while considering the burials\' relationship with their surrounding environments and the transformations that took place in the sixth century. The graves of the corpus are: grave 12 of \"La Tuilerie\" in Saint-Dizier (France); grave 49 of the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis (France); grave B808 of Cologne Cathedral in Cologne (Germany); and grave 146 of Bossut- Gottechain in Grez-Doiceau (Belgium). The incidence of grave goods in many tombs from this period has been read as evidence of the exact social positions occupied by individuals, but new interpretations draw attention to the construction of discourses during the ceremonies, which referred both to the deceased and to those who organized their funeral. The debates on the social construction of gender in funerary archaeology have great contributions to be made in the analysis of this context\'s funerary rhetoric, which is much concerned with the materialization of familial memory. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/08471-9 - Family memory and female social status in Merovingian aristocratic tombs (6th-7th centuries)
• Grantee: Marina Duarte Sanchez
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master