Graves

[vikingdragons]

make all of them options, then let ppl choose for themselves. i espically like the whole "eat the dead" suggestion! maybe absorb a very small % of the deceased attributes afterwords.

[Chakravanti]

Thus he (Odin) established by law that all dead men should be burned, and their belongings laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth.

not the same thing by a long shot. Such things are never decorated nor have any sort of monuments affixed to them.

As I said, cremations are standard pagan rites except for the far east and Judaic/Egyptian mummification. The 'burial mounds' are not places where the remains of individuals are preserved and monuments constructed to memorialize them as we, the and the Egyptians before us did. The difference being that the Egyptians and their Judaic and Christian successors preserved remains in the belief of resurrection. In fact, the entire concept of 'heaven' is completely pagan. There is absolutely nothing Christian about heaven. Pagans believe that spirits existed in another world and another form and arrive there upon death. Christianity and it's predecessors believe in resurrection in this world or existence. "Heaven' is an adopted pagan belief from the annexation of pagan lands by Constantine and the catholic church. Just as every christian holiday is an annexation of pagan holidays into the mnemonic Egyptian astrological record.

So yes, as it says, ashes and bones are sometimes placed into the earth and you can call this burial because technically that is what burial is. As for erecting graves and mausoleums to memorialize, house and preserve the remains of individuals, this is not a pagan practice. The dead are remembered for their deeds and and the stories told after them.

[vikingdragons]

i bet the pagans out there will call everything else pagan...so just make everything an option and leave it at that. im fine with funeral pyres, but some people might want to be buried, or eaten...

[Chakravanti]

i bet the pagans out there will call everything else pagan...so just make everything an option and leave it at that. im fine with funeral pyres, but some people might want to be buried, or eaten...

[Potjeh]

Czech Republic

During the early Middle Ages, Slavic tribesmen inhabiting what is now the Czech Republic used to bury their dead under barrows. This practice has been widespread in southern and eastern Bohemia and some neighboring regions, like Upper Austria and Lusatia, which at that time have been also populated with Slavic people. However, there are no known Slavic barrows in central part of the country (around Prague), neither they are found in Moravia. This has led some of the archaeologists to speculations about at least three distinct waves of Slavic settlers, which have colonized Czech lands separately from each other, each wave bringing its customs with it (including burial rituals).

At places where barrows have been constructed, they are usually found in groups (10 to 100 together), often forming several clearly distinct lines going from the west to the east. Only a few of them have been studied scientifically so far; in them, both burials by fire (with burnt ashes) and unburned skeletons have been found, even on the same site. It seems that builders of the barrows have at some time switched from burials by fire to burying of unburned corpses; however, the reason for such change is unknown. The barrows date too far back in history (700 AD to 800 AD) to contain any Christian influences - it is almost certain that all people buried in them were pagans.

Also, this:

As the old Scandinavians worshiped their ancestors, the mounds were also places of worship.

[Chakravanti]

First of all..it's wikipedia andthat second of the article has no references. Lastly 700-800AD is not too early for Christian influences on migratory pagans of uncertain origin and about whom there is a general lack of knowledge.

It may very well be that there are some exceptions but cremation or not, The burial mound as described in that - Repeat: Unreferenced - article, are still indicative of pagan death rites. General and anonymous. E.g. Mass graves versus memorializing individuals with rites and practices of preservation in the promise of resurrection.

[Potjeh]

Yeah, the two things are found in completely different cultures. But H&H is a mish-mash of Slavic and Germanic stuff anyway.

Also, some objects were found in these mounds. If it was Christian burials, there'd probably be something with Christian symbols in there. Not that burying offerings is a Christian custom.

And you're right, the article doesn't mention any sources on that. But you're not providing any yourself, and I'm more inclined to believe Wikipedia than you.

Finally, there is zero evidence for top hats and monocles in early medieval Slavic and Germanic cultures.

[Chakravanti]

http://www.spoilheap.co.uk/burintr.htm

This is a good piece with a decent bibliography. If it's not enough for you I can get into my basement and dig through my highly disorganized library for some of my personal reading material as references. My understanding is that we are in late bronze to early iron setting. A focus on cremation and mass graves with a very rare memorialization of wealthy, powerful or otherwise significant people.

And that only coming in the middle iron age.

[Potjeh]

I found a reference in the Chernyakov Culture article (2nd - 5th century, way too early for Christianity), but it's to a book that isn't freely available online
The relevant bit:

Both inhumation and cremation were practiced.

Since this is about Slavs, and your article is about pre-Saxon Britain (so not really Germanic), I still think that burial wouldn't be historically inaccurate.

Anyway, I thought that the game's period was roughly Great Migrations - High Middle Ages, minus Christianity (alternative history, if you will).

[Frelock]

Well, the fact that we have steel made in crucibles puts us somewhere around the 16th century, or perhaps in 8th century central asia. Also, the production of silk in Europe didn't start until AD 550, and didn't really get underway until the 12th-13th century, so there we have another lower bound. Germanic/Slavic cartography also puts us in the dark/middle ages (though the Greeks and Romans certainly had them prior). In any case, I'd say we're in early to mid-middle age for the rest of Europe, though in Scandivavia the transition from barbarism was certainly slower.

Also, in terms of gameplay, I think that barrows would be a great addition, if only for the looks.