Upper Palaeolithic infant burials

Einwögerer, Thomas; Friesinger, Herwig; Händel, Marc; Neugebauer-Maresch, Christine; Simon, Ulrich; Teschler-Nicola, Maria

doi:10.1038/444285a

Cited by 111 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…During the early period only infants and children were mummified (4,8,34), supporting the idea that they were considered full members of hunter-gatherer societies (53) and suggesting that AM was not originally intended for ancestor worship. Subsequently, adults also became mummified, and different AM variants emerged and evolved, including black, red, bandaged, mud-coated mummies, and corded mummies or mummies wrapped in reed cords (4,5,8,34,54).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile

Marquet

Santoro

Latorre

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

123

101

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The emergence of complex cultural practices in simple huntergatherer groups poses interesting questions on what drives social complexity and what causes the emergence and disappearance of cultural innovations. Here we analyze the conditions that underlie the emergence of artificial mummification in the Chinchorro culture in the coastal Atacama Desert in northern Chile and southern Peru. We provide empirical and theoretical evidence that artificial mummification appeared during a period of increased coastal freshwater availability and marine productivity, which caused an increase in human population size and accelerated the emergence of cultural innovations, as predicted by recent models of cultural and technological evolution. Under a scenario of increasing population size and extreme aridity (with little or no decomposition of corpses) a simple demographic model shows that dead individuals may have become a significant part of the landscape, creating the conditions for the manipulation of the dead that led to the emergence of complex mortuary practices.climate variability | coastal desert | cultural evolution

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile

Marquet

Santoro

Latorre

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

123

101

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“…The Kremsfeld (also Kremser Feld) in particular, with its famous sites Krems, Göttweig, Paudorf and Stratzing (Fig. 1), has received attention because of its archaeological finds (Einwögerer et al, 2006;Neugebauer-Maresch, 2008;Händel et al, 2008). However it is difficult to understand why the rather thick and manifold loess/palaeosol sequences in Lower Austria have not been the subject of further studies besides archaeological investigations since the works of Fink (1956Fink ( , 1976Fink ( , 1978.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Sedimentation and erosion processes in Middle to Late Pleistocene sequences exposed in the brickyard of Langenlois/Lower Austria

Thiel¹,

Terhorst²,

Jaburová³

et al. 2011

Geomorphology

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“…Infant/child burials with rich grave goods are present in both Paleoindian, e.g., Anzick (52) and European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultural traditions (58)(59)(60). The Sungir (adolescents) and La Madeleine (3 y old) finds have been interpreted as evidence of hereditary social ranking (60); however, ascribed status is unlikely to be present in egalitarian highly mobile foraging cultures (61).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into Eastern Beringian mortuary behavior: A terminal Pleistocene double infant burial at Upward Sun River

Potter

Irish

Reuther

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Here we report on the discovery of two infant burials dating to ∼11,500 calibrated years (cal) B.P. at the Upward Sun River site in central Alaska. The infants were interred in a pit feature with associated organic and lithic grave goods, including the earliest known North American hafted bifaces with decorated antler foreshafts. Skeletal and dental analyses indicate that Individual 1 died shortly after birth and Individual 2 was a late-term fetus, making these the youngest-aged late Pleistocene individuals known for the Americas and the only known prenate, offering, to our knowledge, the first opportunity to explore mortuary treatment of the youngest members of a terminal Pleistocene North American population. This burial was situated ∼40 cm directly below a cremated 3-y-old child previously discovered in association with a central hearth of a residential feature. The burial and cremation are contemporaneous, and differences in body orientation, treatment, and associated grave goods within a single feature and evidence for residential occupation between burial episodes indicate novel mortuary behaviors. The human remains, grave goods, and associated fauna provide rare direct data on organic technology, economy, seasonality of residential occupations, and infant/child mortality of terminal Pleistocene Beringians.

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Upper Palaeolithic infant burials

Cited by 111 publications

References 1 publication

Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile

Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile

Sedimentation and erosion processes in Middle to Late Pleistocene sequences exposed in the brickyard of Langenlois/Lower Austria

New insights into Eastern Beringian mortuary behavior: A terminal Pleistocene double infant burial at Upward Sun River

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