Build-A-Burial: An Inventory of Neanderthal Funerary Sites (November 4, 2022)
An illustration of the Neanderthals at Shanidar Cave (Smithsonian Human Origins Program).
Each Neanderthal site found with evidence to suggest intentional mortuary practices is subject to thorough academic scrutiny in its designation as a burial grounds. These discussions are held on both a case-by-case basis and towards the species as whole. [1]
Museum reconstruction of the Neanderthal burial at La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France (Mourre, 2017).
[2] [3] In questioning whether or not we can say that Neanderthals had the capacity for cognitive processes and social organization that would motivate ritualistic behavior, there is much debate within the anthropological field as to the indications that a specimen can be said to represent:
A deliberate interment, perhaps
Alongside other intentional burials
In some meaningful position/orientation;
The characteristics of which [4] influenced by social frameworks, such as:
Age or sex
Community role (e.g., as a 'shaman' figure [5])
Status or prestige
Emotional constructs (e.g., care, compassion, grief)
With associated grave goods
Potentially chosen based on symbolic meaning (tied to any of the above elements) [6]
Not the result of external disturbances (from local fauna or natural elements)
Thus, the following is a synthesis of mortuary features, supplemented by the evidence found at iconic sites. [7]
Each category includes both specific artifacts found at sites determined to be burials, as well as general implements from the repertoire of Neanderthal material culture.
Of course, I must preface with the usual disclaimer that all sites labeled as 'intentional burials' are not definitively so, but rather based upon analysis by many researchers (and likely contested by just as many).
Context
Layout of the La Ferrassie site and specimens (Pettit, 2002).
Site Organization
Temporal variation (seasonal occupations, at different stratigraphic layers by different populations)
Cohabitation (with other hominin species)
As one section of a multipurpose site
Surrounding Situ
Hearths (charcoal, ash, animal remains)
Tool processing (lithic debris)
Butchering and animal processing (animal remains, lithic debris)
'Campsite' shelters (fiber 'bedding', stone circle structures)
Other Specimens
Other deliberate interments [8]
Individuals not intentionally buried (died as a result of natural disasters, conflict) or corpse 'dumping zones'
Condition:
Labeled photographs of Shanidar remains in situ (Barker, 2015).
Primary burial
Secondary (later additions to the same burial 'plot')
Articulated (anatomical manipulation/positioning)
Spatially oriented (in relation to cardinal directions or other burials)
De-fleshed (cannibalism?) [9]
Bodily trauma (interpersonal violence?)
Healed wounds (caregiving?)
Grave goods
The Qafzeh 11 burial: an adolescent with a portion of the skull from a large deer laid upon its upper body (Neuville, 1933).
Animal remains
Ibex horns (Teshik-Tash)
Red deer maxilla bone (Amud 7)
Mammal jawbone (Shanidar II & V)
Pierced eagle talons (mythos?)
An example of potential Neanderthal ‘art’: a carved deer bone found at Einhornhöhle, Germany (Minkus).
Implements and ornamentation
Mousterian flake-based lithics
Organic material tools (bone, wood)
Carved figures (stone, bone, wood)
Marine shells (stacked, pierced)
Red ochre [10]
Flowers? (Shanidar IV) [11]
Sample Sites
Amud cave excavation (Garrett).
Krapina cave, Croatia (first excavated/discovered 1899)
La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France (1908)
La Ferrassie, France (1909)
Qafzeh cave, Israel (1929)
Teshik-Tash, Uzbekistan (1938)
Shanidar cave, Iraq (1957)
Amud cave, Israel (1961)
----- References & Further Reading -----
[1] Overview of human burial practices
Pettitt, Paul. “Landscapes of the dead: the evolution of human mortuary activity from body to place in palaeolithic Europe.” Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution, January 26, 2015, 258–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139208697.015.
[2] Analysis of Neanderthal burial sites and features
Koutamanis, Dafne. “The Place of the Neanderthal Dead: Multiple Burial Sites and Mortuary Space in the Middle Palaeolithic of Eurasia.” 2012. https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2661542/view.
[3] Neanderthal burials in the fossil record
Emery, Kate Meyers. “Neanderthal Burials.” Bones Don’t Lie, April 26, 2011. https://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/neanderthal-burials/.
[4] Variability in Neanderthal burial site features
Pettitt, Paul. “The Neanderthal Dead: Exploring Mortuary Variability in Middle Palaeolithic Eurasia.” Before Farming 4 (January 2002): 1–26. https://doi.org/10.3828/bfarm.2002.1.4.
[5] A potential case of animal-based spirituality in Neanderthals
Morton, Glenn. “Origins: The Shaman’s Cape-Religion among the Neanderthals.” www2.asa3.org, December 16, 1996. http://www2.asa3.org/archive/asa/199612/0102.html.
[6] Neanderthal symbolic and ritualistic thought
Nielsen, Mark, Michelle C. Langley, Ceri Shipton, and Rohan Kapitány. “Homo Neanderthalensis and the Evolutionary Origins of Ritual in Homo Sapiens.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375, no. 1805 (June 29, 2020): 20190424. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0424.
[7] Critical analysis of Neanderthal intentional burials
Gargett, Robert H., Harvey M. Bricker, Geoffrey Clark, John Lindly, Catherine Farizy, Claude Masset, David W. Frayer, et al. “Grave Shortcomings: The Evidence for Neandertal Burial [and Comments and Reply].” Current Anthropology 30, no. 2 (1989): 157–90. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743544?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents.
[8] Multi-burial Neanderthal sites
Whelan, Ed. “New Evidence Ends the Neanderthal Burial Debate.” www.ancient-origins.net, December 11, 2020. https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/neanderthal-death-rites-0013303.
[9] Intersections between cannibalism and mortuary practices in Neanderthals
www.neandertals.org. “Burial, Ritual, Religion, and Cannibalism,” n.d. https://www.neandertals.org/ritual.html.
[10] Red ochre in Neanderthal burial sites
Roebroeks, W., M. J. Sier, T. K. Nielsen, D. De Loecker, J. M. Pares, C. E. S. Arps, and H. J. Mucher. “Use of Red Ochre by Early Neandertals.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 6 (January 23, 2012): 1889–94. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112261109.
[11] Shanidar IV Neanderthal 'flower burial'
Solecki, R. S. “Shanidar IV, a Neanderthal Flower Burial in Northern Iraq.” Science 190, no. 4217 (November 28, 1975): 880–81. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.190.4217.880.
----- Selected Sites -----
Krapina cave
Russell, Mary D. “Mortuary Practices at the Krapina Neandertal Site.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 72, no. 3 (March 1987): 381–97. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330720311.
La Chapelle-aux-Saints
Rendu, W., C. Beauval, I. Crevecoeur, P. Bayle, A. Balzeau, T. Bismuth, L. Bourguignon, et al. “Evidence Supporting an Intentional Neandertal Burial at La Chapelle-Aux-Saints.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 1 (December 16, 2013): 81–86. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316780110.
La Ferrassie
Balzeau, Antoine, Alain Turq, Sahra Talamo, Camille Daujeard, Guillaume Guérin, Frido Welker, Isabelle Crevecoeur, et al. “Pluridisciplinary Evidence for Burial for the La Ferrassie 8 Neandertal Child.” Scientific Reports 10, no. 1 (December 2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77611-z.
Quafzeh cave
Vandermeersch, Bernard, and Ofer Bar-Yosef. “The Paleolithic Burials at Qafzeh Cave, Israel.” Paléo 30, no. 1 (December 30, 2019): 256–75. https://doi.org/10.4000/paleo.4848.
Teshik-Tash
Wikipedia. “Teshik-Tash 1,” April 30, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teshik-Tash_1.
Shanidar cave
Pomeroy, Emma, Paul Bennett, Chris O. Hunt, Tim Reynolds, Lucy Farr, Marine Frouin, James Holman, Ross Lane, Charles French, and Graeme Barker. “New Neanderthal Remains Associated with the ‘Flower Burial’ at Shanidar Cave.” Antiquity 94, no. 373 (February 2020): 11–26. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.207.
Amud cave
Hovers, Erella, Yoel Rak, Ron Lavi, and William H. Kimbel. “Hominid Remains from Amud Cave in the Context of the Levantine Middle Paleolithic.” Paléorient 21, no. 2 (1995): 47–61. https://href.li/?https://www.jstor.org/stable/41492632#metadata_info_tab_contents.
