Burials in ovens: simple re-use or a metaphor for life cycles?

The re-use of domestic structures for burials represents a widespread phenomenon across the Neolithic world. Ovens, among other things, were used for unerary purposes, emphasising their symbolic meaning beyond their utilitarian function. Burials inside ovens are likely to suggest a close relationship between life, death and the regenerative power of fire rather than a simple re-use of abandoned domestic features. This issue will be tackled using the records of the Early Neolithic site of Portonovo in Italy, where several individuals were buried in two subterranean ovens. The data recovered from the excavations carried out at Portonovo will be compared to those from other European sites in which ovens were used as burial places. The aim is to understand whether this practice is an opportunistic re-use of a space as a burial chamber or has a symbolic meaning shared by the group