Issues of theory and method in the analysis of Paleolithic mortuary behavior: A view from Shanidar Cave - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

. 2020 Sep;29(5):263-279.

doi: 10.1002/evan.21854. Epub 2020 Jul 11.

Chris O Hunt 2, Tim Reynolds 3, Dlshad Abdulmutalb 4, Eleni Asouti 5, Paul Bennett 6, Marjolein Bosch 1, Ariane Burke 7, Lucy Farr 8, Robert Foley 9, Charles French 1, Amos Frumkin 10, Paul Goldberg 11 12, Evan Hill 13, Ceren Kabukcu 5, Marta Mirazón Lahr 9, Ross Lane 6, Curtis Marean 14, Bruno Maureille 15, Giuseppina Mutri 16 17, Christopher E Miller 18, Kaify Ali Mustafa 19, Andreas Nymark 3, Paul Pettitt 20, Nohemi Sala 21, Dennis Sandgathe 22, Chris Stringer 23, Emily Tilby 1, Graeme Barker 8

Affiliations

• PMID: 32652819
• DOI: 10.1002/evan.21854

Review

Issues of theory and method in the analysis of Paleolithic mortuary behavior: A view from Shanidar Cave

Emma Pomeroy et al. Evol Anthropol. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Mortuary behavior (activities concerning dead conspecifics) is one of many traits that were previously widely considered to have been uniquely human, but on which perspectives have changed markedly in recent years. Theoretical approaches to hominin mortuary activity and its evolution have undergone major revision, and advances in diverse archeological and paleoanthropological methods have brought new ways of identifying behaviors such as intentional burial. Despite these advances, debates concerning the nature of hominin mortuary activity, particularly among the Neanderthals, rely heavily on the rereading of old excavations as new finds are relatively rare, limiting the extent to which such debates can benefit from advances in the field. The recent discovery of in situ articulated Neanderthal remains at Shanidar Cave offers a rare opportunity to take full advantage of these methodological and theoretical developments to understand Neanderthal mortuary activity, making a review of these advances relevant and timely.

Keywords: Neanderthal; burial; funerary activity; mortuary activity; sediment micromorphology; taphonomy.

© 2020 The Authors. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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