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The present text concerns theoretical and methodological aspects of burial archaeology with special attention given to the temporal dimension. It is argued that burial places need to be discussed individually from a bottom-up perspective in order to minimise the bias of regional and culture-centred generalisations. Such a microarchaeological approach focuses on social practice involved in the disposal of the dead as a mediating level between the local and particular on one hand and the normative and general on the other. Further, it is argued that the horizontal stratigraphy of burial places needs to be investigated in order to distinguish phases of change and alteration within sites. Such phases constitute more relevant points of departure for comparisons with phases of other sites, thus facilitating a more nuanced discussion on periods of contact and hybridisation between different social groups