CeDiAS

After the monastery was established, there was an increase in the number of tombs around the church, pointing to the influx of deceased from wider social circles. Nuns used to be buried behind the apse, whereas the remains of laymen were placed in the other spaces. For much of the 12th century, no changes were introduced into the funeral ritual, save for the use of wooden panels resting on stones to protect the buried from the pit-filling soil or the recourse to wooden stretchers.
From the 13th century, we have evidence of the new habit of burying the dead dressed up and/or adorned. During the excavation of the funeral area belonging to this chronology, finds in durable material (metal, bone, stones) were unearthed. They were originally sewn or fixed onto fabric or leather clothes, which have not instead survived.

Thanks to the finds discovered in the tombs, it was possible to document, among those buried at the Badia, the presence of characters of varying types and social backgrounds. Atlantic shells, a pointer to a visit to the sanctuary of Compostela, attested the transit of pilgrims, as did the iron tip of a “bordone”, the staff that pilgrims and wayfarers used to cover large stretches of land on foot. Belt buckles of different kinds and sizes, reinforced buttonholes and decorated buttons, in addition to variously shaped rings, reflected the then current fashion among residents in the area surrounding the monastery, revealing moreover a certain deal of social differentiation between the tombs of more or less wealthy people. The same period also registered the appearance of coins laid in the tombs, perhaps as a sign of protection for the dead.