Horse Burial in Lombard Italy: Crossing Cultural and Afterlife Boundaries in Social Representation

Abstract

The custom of horse burial, of foreign extraction, was carried across the Italian borders by the Lombards during their migration in 568 AD. The buried horses are linked to a variety of human remains: not only warriors, but also young women, adult males without weapons, and men who did not possess the osteological markers of warriors. The focus is on one of the most interesting examples in Lombard Italy, the necropolis of Spilamberto, due to the unique association of horses with young ladies. This paper argues that the horses buried in the Italian Lombard necropolises (late sixth / seventh century), were cultural symbols borrowed from the warfare sphere, but primarily used, in death, as emblems of unique status, whether or not there was a factual involvement in warfare-matters during life.