Dear Rob,

Thank you for this skillful description which will be very useful for us, non-specialists. Snakes using existing animal burrows also means that they depend on the usually specific burrowing habits of small mammals, which rarely go below 0.5 m as opposed to some human burials. 

Temporarily open graves working as natural traps could be a different problem. 

Best wishes, Laszlo
________________________________________
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Rob Lenders <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 07 January 2016 09:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] Snakes in Medieval burials?

Hi All,

I am not an archaeologist but a herpetologist by training. I would
nevertheless like to contribute some additional considerations to this
discussion. As I understand it, it depends on where remains of small
vertebrates in human graves are found in order to assess the situation
appropriately. Often small vertebrates remains found in the pelvic or
stomach region of the body buried point towards digestion before the
person's death.
Snakes do hibernate below ground in existing burrows and other cavities,
often in large numbers and in assemblages of different species and with
other reptiles and amphibians. They are, however, unable to dig
hibernation sites themselves (in contrast to most small mammals and
amphibians like toads) so they make use of existing burrows dug by, for
example, rabbits. If they would use human graves as hibernation sites they
would need some kind of access to this grave.
During hibernation snakes coil or seek each other to form a tangle of
specimens to prevent energy loss as much as possible. Compared to many
other vertebrates snakes do not really 'sleep' during hibernation but are
in a state of low activity while still able to respond to their
surroundings. With the changing of the weather they thus move deeper or
less deep in their hibernaculum. Since they use only little energy during
hibernation dying as a result of starvation does only occur during long
and harsh winters. They are also able to deal with forest or moor fires
while in their hibernaculum. They very often survive such disasters. The
most important cause of death during hibernation is a quick rising of the
groundwater table leading to drowning.

If complete skeletons of snakes are found in (closed) human graves (not
coiled or in a tangle, as can for instance be seen in a photograph in the
paper of Bartosiewicz et al.) it is - in my opinion - likely that these
snakes were deposited there during the time of the burial.

Cheers

Rob Lenders




> From experience in the region, I have encountered the presence of various
> intrusive animals in graves. with careful excavation, one can usually
> identify the tunnel used to enter the grave. the fact that the entire
> skeleton is present is more or less a "dead" give away that it is probably
> intrusive.
> Sincerely
> Haskel
> Haskel J. Greenfield, Distinguished Professor
> University of Manitoba
> Prof., Dept. of Anthropology
> Coordinator, Judaic Studies
> Codirector, Near Eastern and Biblical Archaeology Lab of St. Paul's
> College
> Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
> Office: 204-272-1591
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites
> [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Eve Richardson
> [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: January 6, 2016 3:23 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] Snakes in Medieval burials?
>
> On 06-Jan-2016 2:22 PM, Pajx wrote:
>> Of course, it could be deliberate burial and I'm afraid I have no idea
>> how you could discriminate...
> Snakes found snugged in with the human remains vs snakes found in what
> might have been the loosenedd soil above the body? I've no idea to what
> degree soil would settle, making it difficult to distinguish.
>
> is it known how the snakes were positioned? I'm assuming burrowing
> snakes would be coiled, but deliberate burials maybe not.
>
> (Not faunal, but yesterday I photographed at the entrance to a Catholic
> cemetery in Toronto a collection of pomegranates, oranges, peanuts in
> their shells, what looked like a full cup of coffee, and a candle. Not
> the first time I've seen offerings left at the gate.)
>
> Eve (who knows nothing, but likes to ask questions)
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>


--
Dr. H.J.R. (Rob) Lenders
Department of Environmental Science
Faculty of Science
Radboud University Nijmegen
P.O. Box 9010
(internal mailbox number 89)
6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands

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