Recent decades have seen major excavations of medieval urban graveyards and of monastic burials – providing transformative insights into health and mortality in the region. Far fewer excavations of rural graveyards have been undertaken – partly because of less intense development. With the conversion of many rural churches to alternative uses there may be opportunities to respectfully investigate these sensitive locations. South East Scotland has some exceptional medieval tombs. However, a significant proportion of medieval funerary monuments are surprisingly poorly conserved. More detailed recording and conservation of extant medieval memorials should be a priority.
Burials Research Questions
- How did burial customs in South East Scotland evolve over the course of the Middle Ages?
- To what extent do funerary monuments conform to national / international trends? Are there specific local / regional variations?
- How similar were rural and urban burial practices?
- How comparable were the burials of clerics and laity?
- Are there notable physical differences between people buried in higher and lower status locations. For example were people buried inside churches less malnourished than the general population?