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Human Burial History

From BC to Modern Era
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Intellectual capacity to care about what happens after death

Neanderthals began burying their dead around 100,000 years ago

Why did early Prevent odor of decay and to keep community members from
having to witness the decomposition of another

humans bury
their dead? Ancient humans were least concerned with the remains
themselves but rather with the resting place.

Anthropological standpoint: It is extremely difficult to prove why

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ancient humans deliberately buried their dead because most

practices involved rituals, dances, flowers, or grave goods lost to
time.

Some evidence that early burials were meant to separate the

individual from the culturally significant death practice of that
community because they were transgressors.
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55,000 - 120,000 BCE

Timeline of Human
The Levant Caves, The Levant
~78,000 BCE
Graves Panga ya Saidi, Kenya
~26,000 BCE
The Red Lady, Paviland, Wales
9,700 - 11,700 BCE
Raqefet Cave, Israel
9,500 BCE
Tanana River House, Alaska
8,500 BCE
Gross Fredenwalde, Germany
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~6,500 BCE
Oleni Ostrov, Karelia, Russia
~5,000 BCE
Dolmens, British Isles
~4,000 BCE
Burial Chambers and Mummification, Egypt
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3,000 BCE

Timeline of Human
Kerameikos, Greece
2630 -2611 BCE

Graves Djoser Step Pyramid: Saqqara, Egypt

2200-1750 BCE
Bahrain
1,000 BCE
Mount of Olives, Israel

210 BCE: Terracotta Warriors: China 1000 TO 500 BCE

6th Century CE: Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England Odigram, Pakistan
600 CE: St. Peter’s Basilica crypt 751 BCE
900 CE: Viking Tumulus Nubian/Kushite Pyramids
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410 BCE
Catacombs: Italy

353 BCE
Mausoleum
230 BCE
Hokenoyama Tomb, Japan
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210 BCE

Timeline of Human
Terracotta Warriors: China
6TH CENTURY CE
Graves Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England
600 CE
St. Peter’s Basilica crypt
900 CE
Viking Tumulus
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
55,000 - 120,000 BCE: THE LEVANT ~78,000 BCE: PANGA YA SAIDI, 9,700 - 11,700 BCE: RAQEFET CAVE,
CAVES, THE LEVANT KENYA ISRAEL
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
~4,000 BCE: BURIAL CHAMBERS
~5,000 BCE: SUMER MESOPOTAMIA 3,100 BCE: STONEHENGE
AND MUMMIFICATION: EGYPT
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Sites
BEFORE 3100BCE: PREDYNASTIC 2630 -2611 BCE: DJOSER STEP
MASTABA PYRAMID: SAQQARA, EGYPT
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
~5,000 BCE: SUMER MESOPOTAMIA 2200-1750 BCE: BAHRAIN
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
1,000 BCE: MOUNT OF OLIVES, 1000 TO 500 BCE: ODIGRAM, 751 BCE: NUBIAN/KUSHITE
ISRAEL PAKISTAN PYRAMIDS
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
410 BCE: CATACOMBS: ITALY
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
210 BCE: TERRACOTTA WARRIORS: CHINA
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 Earliest/Oldest Burial
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Sites
900 CE: VIKING TUMULUS 6TH CENTURY CE: SUTTON HOO, SUFFOLK, ENGLAND
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 Dolmens, found around British Isles and western
14 Europe but also on the Korean Peninsula where there
are ‘cemeteries’ of Dolmens consisting of 30-100 intact
structures located closely together

Oldest Grave Megalithic, single-chamber tomb

Marker regarded as burial chambers despite the absence of

clear evidence of human remains, sometimes
accompanied by artefacts
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Trethevy Quoit - one of the best-preserved A northern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Tinkinswood, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales,
in Cornwall, UK dated to around 3500– Island, South Korea around 3000 BCE
2500 BCE

 Homo Sapien
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Sapien Burial
QAFZEH CAVE, ISRAEL
Modern human intentional
burial dates back to 80,000 to
100,000 years ago in Qafzeh
Cave south of Nazareth in
Israel.

Two intact skeletons were

neatly buried in the floor of
the cave alongside symbolic
items like a pair of deer
noitatneserP erutcetihcrA

antlers. There’s some

argument that they were
buried in a fetal position
because of ease of burial or a
representation return to the
womb.
 Homo Sapien
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Burial
PANGA YA SAIDI CAVE KENYA
80,000 year old grave was
discovered at the mouth of
the Panga ya Saidi cave on the
coast of Kenya’s tropical
uplands.

The body’s peaceful pose

suggests funerary behavior—
that the child was purposely
laid to rest.
noitatneserP erutcetihcrA

Technical analysis of the soil

concludes the burial pit
containing different
sediments, tracks and shells
from snails known to eat
earthworms, which are often
found around corpses.
 Neanderthal
17

Burial
LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS
Neanderthal burial began
around 65,000 years ago.
They began by placing the
body in the grave in either of
two formalized ways; the
flexed, or 'fetal' position; or
the extended, or recumbent
position.

The body discovered in the

noitatneserP erutcetihcrA

cave was of a well preserved

adult male who appears to
have been intentionally buried
in a rectangular pit 12 inches
deep, 5 feet long, and 3 feet
wide.
18 Taforalt or Grotte des Pigeons Cave in
the Berkane province in Morocco is the
Oldest Known oldest known cemetery in the world. It
contained 34 adolescent and adult

Cemetery skeletons from 15,100 to 14,000 years

ago.

TAFORALT OR GROTTE DES PIGEONS CAVE IN THE
BERKANE PROVINCE IN MOROCCO
This is a cemetery because there is
evidence of rituals with burials
containing animal remains, a highly
stratified cave floor (involving hearths,
lithics and beading)

Archaeological excavations at the site

burial ground have revealed extensive
use and reuse of the burial area with
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evidence of secondary burial and

selective bone removal. Some burials
were covered by large stones preventing
future disturbances by burials. The
presence of both articulated and
disarticulated bones indicates extensive
use.