Analysis of pollen and intestinal parasite eggs from medieval graves from Nivelles, Belgium: Taphonomy of the burial ritual Koen Deforce a , Marie-Laure Van Hove b , Didier Willems b a Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Earth and History of Life, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium b Département du patrimoine du Service public de Wallonie, Direction de l'archéologie/Direction extérieure du Brabant wallon, Wavre, Belgium abstract article info Article history: Received 4 August 2015 Received in revised form 5 October 2015 Accepted 21 October 2015 Available online xxxx Keywords: Middle Ages Burial ritual Straw Hay Taphonomy Palynology Parasitology Pollen and intestinal parasite eggs of a number of burials from a medieval cemetery at Nivelles (Belgium) have been studied. The results of the pollen analysis provide indications for the use of straw and hay in the medieval burial ritual. Pollen assemblages from samples from the pelvic area of the skeletons, which are generally believed to represent the contents of the digestive tract, are potentially also influenced by this practice. The consequences for the palynological analysis and interpretation of pollen assemblages from medieval burials are discussed. The parasitological analysis shows a high infection rate of Trichuris and Ascaris in the medieval population of Nivelles. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Pollen is generally not preserved in ancient burials as most graves are situated above groundwater level in well-drained soils and pollen is easily oxidised in such environments. In specific situations, such as burials in extreme arid climates (e.g. Berg, 2002) or in sheltered envi- ronments like rock shelters or caves, or in sarcophagi, crypts or other sealed environments (see references below), pollen can be preserved and its analysis can potentially provide a wealth of information. Samples representing the contents of the digestive tract document the composi- tion of the last meals of the buried person (e.g. Arguelles et al., 2015; Reinhard et al., 1992; Reinhard and Bryant, 2008; Shafer et al., 1989; Shishlina et al., 2007), or identify medicinal plant use (e.g. Teixeira- Santos et al., in press). Samples from the burial environment can reveal embalming practices by identifying the plants used for this purpose (e.g. Bui Thi Mai and Girard, 2003; Charlier et al., 2013; Vermeeren and Van Haaster, 2002), the identification of grave goods including the ritual de- position of flowers (e.g. Iriarte-Chiapusso et al., 2015; Kvavadze et al., 2007; Lagerås, 2000) and point to other uses of plants related to burial practices (e.g. Girard and Maley, 1999; Kvavadze et al., 2008). Addition- ally, pollen samples from the grave can provide information on the veg- etation at the moment of burial (e.g. Kvavadze et al., 2008) and even on the season of death (e.g. Arguelles et al., 2015; Szibor et al., 1998). More exceptional are burials in the soil at open air sites, in the tem- perate climate of NW-Europe, that show good pollen preservation (e.g. Berg, 2002; Bunting and Tipping, 2001; Enevold, 2013). Due to the taphonomic constraints of the burial environment, the or- igin of the pollen identified from ancient burials is not always straight- forward and its interpretation has to be done with great care (e.g. Bunting and Tipping, 2001; Sommer, 1999). But also the many potential sources of pollen, related to both the intestinal contents of the buried body and to burial rituals involving plant material further complicate the interpretation of pollen assemblages from funerary contexts (e.g. Bui Thi Mai and Girard, 2003; Reinhard et al., 2007; Renault-Miskovsky et al., 2005). In this paper the results are presented of the analyses of pollen from graves from a medieval cemetery at Nivelles (Central Belgium). At the site, the high level of humidity of the soil resulted in the exceptional preservation of organic material present in some of the excavated graves, providing a rare opportunity for the analysis of pollen associated with these burials. Samples from coprolites recovered from three burials from this site have been analysed for parasites (Rácz et al., 2015) and pollen in previous studies. This study now presents the re- sults of pollen analyses of sediment samples from different locations within and around several of the excavated skeletons. Additionally, eggs of intestinal parasites present in the samples have been analysed. This study helps to reconstruct past funeral rituals and provides in- formation on the infection by intestinal parasites within the medieval population of Nivelles. At the same time, it is demonstrated that there Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 4 (2015) 596–604 E-mail address: koen.deforce@naturalsciences.be (K. Deforce). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.10.027 2352-409X/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/jasrep