STRANDLOPERS OP DE BRANDSTAPEL

Samenvatting

Burnt bird bones have been discovered in two traces of cremation sites at the early medieval cemetery of Oosterbeintum (Fr.) (dated from 400 AD into the 8th century AD). The burnt bones are of Calidris mi­nuta or Calidris temminckii, little stint or Temminck's stint, and of Calidris alpina, dunlin. Wing bones prevail by far. Most probably the stint and dunlin wing bones originate from wings that the dead person had worn attached to the clothes as a deco­ration. Another possibility is that the wings were given to the deceased on the pyre. It is historically known that dunlins and other birds were caught with nets on the mud­flats in the vicinity of Oosterbeintum until the beginning of the 20th century.