“BRING OUT YOUR DEAD”
THE ORIGINS OF RITUAL BEHAVIOR
400,000 years ago
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| A quartzite handaxe similar to the one found in the Sima de los Huesos at the site of Atapuerca in Spain, ca. 400,000 years ago. Credit: Photo by Kathy Schick, courtesy of the Stone Age Institute. All rights reserved. |
All modern human societies have cultural norms of how to treat the dead: burial, cremation, or some other treatment. How far back can we trace this treatment fo the dead (called mortuary practice)? At the amazing site of Atapuerca in Spain, dating to about 400,000 years ago, one locatlity, called “The Pit of the Bones,” the fossil human bones of over 30 individuals of Homo heidelbergensis were found deep in a cave at the bottom of a forty-foot shaft. This may be evidence of the earliest mortuary practice, and possibly the first known ritualistic behavior.
It appears that some members of this population intentionally dropped these bodies down the shaft, presumably after they had died. This seems to be a probable form of mortuary practice. One beautiful red quartzite handaxe was also found in the pit. Was this an offering for the afterlife? As we will see, mortuary practices will become more common with the advent of the Neandertals and early modern humans, but this site may document the earliest evidence yet known.
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| Reconstruction of the skull of Homo heidelbergensis from the Sima de los Huesos at the site of Atapuerca in Spain, ca. 400,000 years ago. Credit: Photo by Kathy Schick, courtesy of the Stone Age Institute. All rights reserved. |
HOW DO WE KNOW?
The context of these proto-human skeletal remains strongly suggests some pattern of disposing of the dead: roping bodies down a shaft deep inside a cave, and also the dropping of at least one well-made stone tool. Interestingly, prime adults (male and female) are the most common skeletal remains, not the young and the old. Such a preponderance of prime adults is an unusual age profile for a mortuary site.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Treatment of the dead and ritualistic behavior are two of the hallmarks of modern human behavior, and we appear to be seeing the glimmerings of this at the Spanish site of Atapuerca.
WEB RESOURCES
This BBC article is about the evidence for the earliest human burial.
https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2885663.stm
This is an article about an 11,500 year burial, one of the oldest known burial sites in North America.
https://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/24/remains-of-11-500-year-old-child-discovered-in-alaskan-wildernes/
A Wikipedia website about Paleolithic religion, beginning with evidence of burial rituals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_religion
This National Geographic article details Python Cave, believed to be the oldest site of ritual behavior.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061222-python-ritual_2.html
This article, also from National Geographic, tells of the Syrian tombs which are thought to have evidence of ritual burials.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061024-tombs-syria_2.html
