Publication and analyses of the excavation of a Merovingian cemetery (c. AD 580-750) in Bergeijk (Province of North-Brabant), Netherlands.

Part of the NWO/Odyssee programme: The ANASTASIS of the Merovingian Netherlands This project has as its first goal the publication of the rich data of a major selection of Merovingian cemeteries in the Netherlands. We will also create a digital database and GIS environment for all graves and their contents in all cemeteries, which will serve as an important instrument for future research on early medieval cemeteries on a national basis. Finally we will carry out four pilot studies (on: location choice, gender aspects of the burial ritual, consecutive burial rites and the social and cultural horizon of the dead and the burial group)and one larger study (on the meaning of the variability in grave structures) in order to present first analyses of the early medieval burial rites in the Netherlands and to determine the lines of future research.