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Before Farming 2002 (1)
Title
The title of the publication or report
Title:
Before Farming 2002 (1)
Series
The series the publication or report is included in
Series:
Before Farming
Volume
Volume number and part
Volume:
2002 (1)
Publication Type
The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book
Publication Type:
Journal
Editor
The editor of the publication or report
Editor:
Lawrence Barham
Publisher
The publisher of the publication or report
Publisher:
Western Academic & Specialist Press Limited
Year of Publication
The year the book, article or report was published
Year of Publication:
2002
Note
Extra information on the publication or report.
Note:
Is First Occurrence: 1
Source
Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in.
Source:
BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
Created Date
The date the record of the pubication was first entered
Created Date:
29 Aug 2002
Please click on an Article link to go to the Article Details.
Article Title
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Author / Editor
Page
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Abstract
The Neanderthal dead: exploring mortuary variability in Middle Palaeolit...
Paul B Pettitt
0
It is thought that recent discussions about Neanderthal mortuary behaviour have tended to polarise around opinions that they did, or did not, bury their dead and assumed that most scholars agree that at least some Neanderthals, at some times, treated the dead body. This article seeks to demonstrate that Neanderthal mortuary activity was a real phenomenon that requires exploration and interpretation. The nature and extent of variability in mortuary behaviour is examined. It is thought that in the later Middle Pleistocene Neanderthals may have been caching the dead in unmodified natural surroundings. After 70,000 BP some Neanderthal groups buried infants, or parts of them, in pits, infants and adults in shallow grave cuttings and indulged in primary corpse modification and subsequent burial. It may have been on occasion too that certain enclosed sites served as mortuary centres, and that their function as such was perpetuated in the memory of Neanderthal groups either through physical grave markers or social tradition. It is thought that at least in some Neanderthal groups the dead body was explored and treated in socially meaningful ways.