Pluridisciplinary evidence for burial for the La Ferrassie 8 Neandertal child

Abstract

The origin of funerary practices has important implications for the emergence of so-called modern cognitive capacities and behaviour. We provide new multidisciplinary information on the archaeological context of the La Ferrassie 8 Neandertal skeleton (grand abri of La Ferrassie, Dordogne, France), including geochronological data -14C and OSL-, ZooMS and ancient DNA data, geological and stratigraphic information from the surrounding context, complete taphonomic study of the skeleton and associated remains, spatial information from the 1968–1973 excavations, and new (2014) fieldwork data. Our results show that a pit was dug in a sterile sediment layer and the corpse of a two-year-old child was laid there. A hominin bone from this context, identified through Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) and associated with Neandertal based on its mitochondrial DNA, yielded a direct 14C age of 41.7–40.8 ka cal BP (95%), younger than the 14C dates of the overlying archaeopaleontological layers and the OSL age of the surrounding sediment. This age makes the bone one of the most recent directly dated Neandertals. It is consistent with the age range for the Châtelperronian in the site and in this region and represents the third association of Neandertal taxa to Initial Upper Palaeolithic lithic technocomplex in Western Europe. A detailed multidisciplinary approach, as presented here, is essential to advance understanding of Neandertal behavior, including funerary practices.

The intrusive nature of the Châtelperronian in the Iberian Peninsula

“…48 kyr BP was probably very sporadic, as has been corroborated by the number of available ages [ 16 ], and the central and eastern part of the Northern Iberian Peninsula became an available expansion area for the groups that developed the Châtelperronian cultural complex in southern France. Very likely, these groups were Neandertals as it is suggested by the accumulated evidence of Nendertal authorship of the Châtelperronian [ 12 – 15 ]. The earliest Protoaurignacian, traditionally associated to Homo sapiens , appeared in the Northern Iberian Peninsula shortly after the first regional Châtelperronian recognized at Aranbaltza II.…”

“…However, recent technical developments have significantly advanced these discussions by presenting paleoproteomic evidence for Neandertal authorship of the Châtelperronian at Arcy-sur-Cure [ 12 ]. The fact that the only human remains directly dated within the Châtelperronian age range in Western Europe have Neandertal affinities [ 13 – 15 ] further strengthens this link. In this study we present a new and significant Châtelperronian site, Aranbaltza II, located in the southernmost area of distribution for this complex.…”

Book Review: Neanderthal Language: Demystifying the Linguistic Powers of Our Extinct Cousins

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Recently, we have witnessed an explosion of studies and discussions claiming that Neanderthals engaged in a range of "symbolic" behaviors, including personal ornament use (Radovčić et al, 2015), funerary practices (Balzeau et al, 2020), visual arts (Hoffmann et al, 2018, body aesthetics (Roebroeks et al, 2012), etc. In Paleolithic archaeology, it has become mainstream to axiomatically infer from these putative behaviors that Neanderthals engaged in symbol use and that Neanderthals thus possessed some form of language.

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Language, Childhood, and Fire: How We Learned to Love Sharing Stories

“…These findings narrow the gap between the now extinct lineages and anatomically modern humans. Further evidence, albeit still circumstantial, includes the burial of a Neanderthal child (Balzeau et al, 2020), or ritual cannibalism, and secondary burials (Frayer et al, 2020). More robust evidence, on decorative bones, feathers, or constructions (Jaubert et al, 2016;Majkić et al, 2017;Finlayson, 2019), enables attributing complex social and cultural life to our sister lineages.…”