CENIEH researchers reviewing the fossil record of Neanderthal populations in the region found that, although no formal burials have been documented, there was remarkable diversity and complexity in their burial practices
Funerary behavior varies over time and place, as shown by the DEATHREVOL project team at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), led by Nohemi Sala, in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The article reviews the Neanderthal fossil record in the Iberian Peninsula from over 400,000 years ago to their disappearance about 40,000 years ago.
The results show that, although formal burials have not been documented in this region as in other areas of Europe, there are indications of funerary behaviors on the part of Neanderthal populations, such as the intentional accumulation of bodies in selected places inside caves.
“The absence of formal burials in the Iberian Peninsula does not mean that the Neanderthal populations of this region lacked burial practices. On the contrary, the findings invite us to broaden our gaze and reconsider what we mean by funerary behavior, ” says Nohemi Sala, principal author of the study.
The researchers traced all known records of fossils of human neanderthals and their ancestors in the Iberian Peninsula. First, to find out how they came to be deposited where they were — whether it was by carnivores, accidental accumulations, or funerary pra
ctices — and then to establish whether they could be considered manifestations of funerary behavior.
“Once other contexts were ruled out, we analyzed what type of mortuary activity it was: formal burial, cannibalism practices or the intentional accumulation of corpses in specific places," explains Nohemi Sala.
The researchers also analyzed the possible relationship between climatic and ecological conditions and these funerary manifestations and came to the surprising conclusion that these manifestations do not seem to be directly linked to the climatic changes that occurred throughout the Pleistocene.
The repeated and systematic accumulation of bodies in specific places over time, although it does not meet the classic definition of "burial", can constitute a funerary manifestation. These practices, different but equally significant, show that Iberian Neanderthals developed complex social behaviors related to death, regardless of the climatic conditions in which they lived.
The Culture of Death
Clear evidence of the symbolic capacities of Neanderthal populations, including the practice of burying their dead, has been documented in various regions of Europe and the Near East. Although burial is the most recognizable funerary manifestation in the fossil record, it is not the only one, and, in fact, its traces can be lost over time.
There are other mortuary practices associated with funerary behavior that do not necessarily involve digging a grave to deposit a corpse and covering it again. As is the case today in various cultures, funerary rites can take very varied forms, and focusing only on burials could cause other evidence about how certain Paleolithic populations faced death to be overlooked. This work opens the door to exploring a broader funeral repertoire, capable of reflecting the cultural diversity that may have existed among the Neanderthal populations of southern Europe.
DEATHREVOL project
The CENIEH has been investigating the origin and evolution of funerary behavior in the European record for years, within the framework of a Starting Grant project by the European Research Council called DEATHREVOL. This ambitious project analyzes human fossil remains to perform something similar to autopsies, but of individuals who lived thousands of years ago, in the Paleolithic. The goal is to reconstruct, from the traces left in the bones, what their life was like, their death and how they treated their bodies after death.
