Order in chaos. Spatial analysis of cremated human remains in urn urials from Podlesie, site 5, Oleśnica Commune, Świętokrzyskie voivodeship

A sample of six cremated graves from the LusatianCulture cemetery from Podlesie, site 5, has been subjected to a spatial analysis aimed at recognising anatomical provenance of bone fragments within the layers of the urn burial. Even though individual features have shown damage ranging from slight to severe, most of the burials have shown any indication of a repeated pattern, with skull fragments predominantly present in the upper layers (Chi2 = 43.968, df = 16, p < 0.001) and lower limb fragments accumulated in the lower parts of the urn (Chi2 = 28.635, df = 16, p < 0.027). In the case of the torso (the term used to describe postcranial axial skeletal fragments together with pectoral and pelvic girdles’ elements) and upper limb, the analysis has not shown statistically significant distribution between the layers. The analysis confirmed the advantage of the proposed method in determining the presence of the so-called 'anatomical order’ within cremation burials.