The meaning behind being buried face down, also known as prone burials, has been debated by experts around the world. A recent study attempts to uncover why there were so many prone burials during the medieval times in Europe.
Anthropologists from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Bern University analyzed 95 prone burials from 60 archaeological sites in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Their findings have been published in the journal PLOS ONE analyzing factors, such as fear and beliefs, that influenced these burials.
Finding a lot of people buried face down during the High Middle Ages meant that the prone position is interpreted as a sign of humility or humilitas, wrote the authors. Meanwhile, the same type of burial post-medieval times was an expression of deviancy. There was also further evidence that prone burials after the Medieval period were the result of epidemic diseases.
Deviant Burials
Throughout history, atypical or deviant burials signified deaths that were not regarded as 'normal' by society at the time. These deaths ranged from suicides to disabilities and beliefs of 'odd' fellows and social outcasts.
Previous studies have analyzed the possible meaning of hundreds of prone burials across different regions around the world. Some studies have associated prone burials as a practice "intended to prevent the return of 'dangerous' dead to the world of the living."
It was believed that the soul would not be able to escape being buried or reenter the body via the mouth. The face-down position was also meant to ward off an epidemic disease that could have spread from corpses to those still alive.
Prone and other deviant burials in Europe were also associated with vampires, noted by the authors. In Eastern Europe and the Balkan region, vampires had been part of the people's culture since the 11th century.
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Infectious Diseases
Amelie Alterauge, an anthropologist at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, first saw a prone burial in 2014 at an archeological site. There was one unique burial among nearly 340 in the entire churchyard.
Under the man's arm were an iron knife and a coin purse. Perhaps his body was "badly decomposed when he was buried-or maybe he had an infectious disease and nobody wanted to get too close," said Alterauge. The corpse was dated back to the mid-1600s when Switzerland was struck with the Black Plague.
When plagues began killing millions of Europeans starting in the 1300s, there was an overwhelming presence of decaying bodies. As corpses decayed, they would bloat and shift, making disturbing noises like smacking sounds. "It might seem as if they're eating themselves and their burial shrouds," described Alterauge.
There were also medieval folklore stories of the 'nachzehrer,' or corpse devourers. These evil corpses were believed to have eaten themselves and others to drain the life force of their living relatives.
Theoretically, a nachzehrer was someone who was the first death in a community during an epidemic. As the person's close relatives began developing symptoms soon after their death, it seemed like the family became cursed.
The team hypothesized that infectious diseases during medieval times "was an important stimulus for the introduction of the belief in the dangerous dead." More research on prone and deviant burials still needs to be conducted to fully understand the context behind such practices.
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