The Palaeolithic origins of human burial

320 Pages·2011·9.759 MB·English

by  Paul Pettitt

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51 THE PALAEOLITHIC ORIGINS
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OF HUMAN BURIAL
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13111 Humans are unique in that they expend considerable effort and ingenuity in
4 disposing of the dead. Some of the recognisable ways we do this are visible
5 in the Palaeolithic archaeology of the Ice Age. The Palaeolithic Origins of Human
6 Burial takes a novel approach to the long-term development of human mor-
7 tuary activity – the various ways we deal with the dead and with dead bodies.
8 It is the first comprehensive survey of Palaeolithic mortuary activity in the
9 English language.
20111 Observations in the modern world as to how chimpanzees behave towards
1 their dead allow us to identify ‘core’ areas of behaviour towards the dead that
2 probably have very deep evolutionary antiquity. From that point, the palaeonto-
3 logical and archaeological records of the Pliocene and Pleistocene are surveyed.
4 The core chapters of the book survey the mortuary activities of early hominins,
5111 archaic members of the genus Homo, early Homo sapiens, the Neanderthals, the
6 Early and Mid Upper Palaeolithic, and the Late Upper Palaeolithic world.
7 Burial is a striking component of Palaeolithic mortuary activity, although
8 existing examples are odd. This probably does not reflect what modern societies
9 believe burial to be, with modern ways of thinking of the dead probably arising
30111 only at the very end of the Pleistocene. When did symbolic aspects of mortuary
1 ritual evolve? When did the dead themselves become symbols? In discussing
2 such questions, The Palaeolithic Origins of Human Burial offers an engaging
3 contribution to the debate on modern human origins. It is illustrated
4 throughout, includes up-to-date examples from the Lower to Late Upper
5 Palaeolithic, including information hitherto unpublished.
6

7 Paul Pettittis Senior Lecturer in Palaeolithic Archaeology at the University
8 of Sheffield, UK. He has degrees from the universities of Birmingham, London
9 and Cambridge, and was Senior Archaeologist in the Radiocarbon Accelerator
40111 Unit at the University of Oxford and Research Fellow and Tutor in Archaeol-
1 ogy and Anthropology at Keble College, Oxford. His research interests focus
2 on the European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. He has published over 190
3 papers in scientific journals and edited volumes, including chapters on the
44111 Neanderthals (in the Oxford Handbook of Archaeology) and the rise of modern
humans (in Scarre (ed.) The Human Past). In 2003 he co-discovered Britain’s first
examples of Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags, where he currently excavates.

THE PALAEOLITHIC
ORIGINS OF
HUMAN BURIAL
Paul Pettitt
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
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© 2011 Paul Pettitt
The right of Paul Pettitt to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Pettitt, Paul.
The palaeolithic origins of human burial / Paul Pettitt.
p. cm.
1. Paleolithic period. 2. Burial—History.
3. Human remains (Archaeology) I. Title.
GN772.P48 2010
393’.1—dc22
2010017943
ISBN 0-203-81330-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 13: 978-0–415–35489–9 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0–415–35490–5 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0–203–00155–4 (ebk)
ISBN 10: 0–415–35489–7 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0–415–35490–0 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–00155–9 (ebk)
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CONTENTS
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13111 List of figures vi
4 List of tables ix
5 Acknowledgements x
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1 Introduction: death and the Palaeolithic 1
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2 Primate roots for early hominid morbidity and mortuary
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activity 11
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3 From morbidity to mortuary activity: developments
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from the australopithecines to Homo heidelbergensis 41
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4 From funerary caching to the earliest burials of early
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Homo sapiens 57
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5 The Neanderthals 78
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6 The first Homo sapiens populations in Europe: Early and
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Mid Upper Palaeolithic funerary activities
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~35,000–21,000 BP 139
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7 From fragmentation to collectivity: human relics, burials
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and the origins of cemeteries in the Late Upper Palaeolithic
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and Epipala eolithic 215
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8 The dead as symbols: the evolution of human mortuary
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activity 261
40111
1
2 Notes 271
3 References 274
44111 Index 303
v
FIGURES
The following were reproduced with kind permission. While every effort has
been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission, this has not been
possible in all cases. Any omissions brought to our attention will be remedied
in future editions.
1.1 Open air cremation of the dead, Pashupatinath, Katmandu,
Nepal 6
2.1 The mummified corpse of infant Veve being carried by her
mother Vuavua at Bossou, Guinea, in 2004 24
2.2 Developing a model of core morbidity and mortuary
activity 40
3.1 AL-333 site under excavation 43
3.2 Skull 4 under excavation in the Sima de los Huesos, Spain 51
4.1 Plan of the Skhu¯l IV burial 60
4.2 Plan of the Skhu¯l V burial, showing orientation, highly
flexed legs, and location of the mandible of Sus sp. 60
4.3 Photo of Skhu¯l V burial 61
4.4 Plan of Qafzeh 9 69
4.5 Photograph of the double grave of Qafzeh 9 and 10 70
4.6 Close-up of the Qafzeh 11 burial showing antler of Cervus
elaphus placed close to head 71
4.7 The Taramsa funerary cache 74
4.8 Presence/absence of personal ornamentation (PO) and burials
(Near East: B NE and Europe: B Eu) for Homo neanderthalensis

and Homo sapiens 77
5.1 Excavations in the transverse gallery at El Sidrón, Asturias,
Spain, have yielded a number of Neanderthal remains with
marks indicative of processing 96
5.2 Plan of Roc de Marsal, Dordogne, showing the location of
the child burial 100
5.3 Plan of Amud Cave, Israel, showing the location of the
Amud I burial under the cave’s drip line 101
vi
FIGURES
5.4 Plan of Kebara Cave, Israel, showing the location of the
KMH2 burial 101
5.5 Neanderthal burials discussed in the text 104
5.6 The Amud 7 burial 107
5.7 Plan of the Dederiyeh 2 infant burial 108
5.8 Plan of the La-Chapelle-aux-Saints cave showing the location
of the adult burial 112
5.9 Section drawing of the Neanderthal and brown bear burials
in Regourdou Cave, Dordogne 113
5.10 The Kebara KMH2 burial in situ 116
5.11 Plan of the Kebara KMH2 burial 117
5.12 The Tabun C1 burial 119
5.13 Section of the Shanidar cave showing the location of
Neanderthal remains 123
5.14 Plan of Shanidar IV burial 125
5.15 The Shanidar IV burial, with bones of Shanidar VI visible
top centre 126
5.16 Shanidar V 127
5.17 Plan of La Ferrassie showing the location of Neanderthal
burials 132
5.18 The La Ferrassie 1 burial 133
5.19 Plan and section of the La Ferrassie 6 infant burial 135
6.1 Plan and section of Goat’s Hole cave at Paviland, Wales 141
6.2 Mid Upper Palaeolithic burials discussed in the text 142
6.3 Plan and section of Burial 2 at Nazlet Khater, Egypt 148
6.4 The Nazlet Khater 2 burial 149
6.5 Perforated human tooth from the Gravettian of Abri Pataud,
Dordogne 151
6.6 The Lagar Velho child burial in situ 169
6.7 The double infant burial from Krems-Wachtberg, Austria 171
6.8 The single infant burial from Krems-Wachtberg, Austria 172
6.9 The caves of Balzi Rossi, Grimaldi, Italy 174
6.10 The caves of Balzi Rossi 175
6.11 The Grotta del Caviglione 177
6.12 The Caviglione burial 178
6.13 The double burial of the Grotta dei Fanciulli 179

6.14 Plan of the Barma Grande cave showing the location of its
burials 180
6.15 The Barma Grande triple burial, as reconstructed in the
Museo Nazionale Preistorico dei Balzi Rossi 181
6.16 ‘Il Principe’, Arene Candide, Liguria 183
6.17 ‘Il Principe’ in situ 184
6.18 Plan of the Grotta Paglicci burial 184
6.19 The Ostuni 1 burial 186
vii
FIGURES
6.20 Location of personal ornamentation as revealed by the
Italian Mid Upper Palaeolithic burials 187
6.21 The DV16 burial, Dolní Veˇstonice 190
6.22 The Dolní Veˇstonice triple burial 191
6.23 Reconstruction of the Prˇedmostí mass grave 195
6.24 Plan of the Kostenki 15 burial 199
6.25 The Kostenki 14 burial 200
6.26 Plan of the Kostenki 14 burial 202
6.27 The Kostenki 14 burial 203
6.28 The Sungir 1 adult burial 204
6.29 The Sungir 2/3 double burial 205
7.1 Cut marks on two calvaria from le Placard, Charente 219
7.2 The cut marked human remains from Brillenhöhle,
Germany, contained within the calotte 222
7.3 European Late Upper Palaeolithic burials discussed in
the text 232
7.4 Plan of the Ohalo II burial, Israel 233
7.5 Plan of the rockshelter at Saint-Germain-la-Rivère showing
the location of burials and human remains 235
7.6 Plan of the Saint-Germain-la-Rivère burial showing location
of human remains under large stone blocks 235
7.7 The Les Hoteux remains laid out 237
7.8 Plan of the La Madeleine infant burial 239
7.9 The Laugerie-Basse burial 240
7.10 The probable burial from Chancelade 241
7.11 The Grotta dei Fanciulli double burial 244
7.12 The Bonn-Oberkassel skeletons 246
7.13 Plan of the Kostenki 18 child burial 248
7.14 Plan of Arene Candide Epigravettian ‘necropolis’ after
Cardini 1980, showing the position of burials 252
7.15 African Late Pleistocene burial and cemetery sites 255
7.16 Australian cemetery sites discussed in the text 258

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TABLES
2.1 Some factors affecting infanticide among higher primates 17
2.2 Physiological and behavioural responses of infants to the death
of their mothers among the Gombe chimpanzee community 25
3.1 Possible objectives, rationales and functions of conspecific
defleshing 46
4.1 The Skhu¯l and Qafzeh hominins 64
5.1 More complete Neanderthal remains discussed in the text 82
6.1 Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains discussed in the text 145
6.2 Mid Upper Palaeolithic human remains discussed in the text 154
7.1 Late Upper Palaeolithic burials and probable burials discussed
in the text 226
7.2 Epipalaeolithic cemeteries discussed in the text 250

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