Re: New Recipe: How to Make a Mass Extinction


Chip Flintknapper wrote:
Paul Crowley wrote:
"Lee Olsen" <paleocity@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1162658862.024998.271190@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Roger Bagula wrote:

The answer is fairly obvious -- if we assume
(a) that Neanderthals generally buried their
dead, and (b) that, as a consequence of the
rise in sea-levels, most of their grave sites
now available to us were at some distance
from their normal places of residence.

Neanderthals would have generally lived close
to the sea, where it is much warmer in winter
(and at night). (This pattern is apparent in
extant hominids, but is especially noticeable
among those living in a cold climate. With
sea-level since 12 kya being close to an all-
time high, few such sites now exist.)

Neanderthal graves available to us would
generally have been those of travellers,
probably often refugees (who would have
had a very high death rate). Burials would
usually have been in shallow graves, made
by travelling parties. After the hominids had
moved on, scavengers would often have dug
up the corpses. But it is much easier to dig a
deep hole for an infant or a child, and cover it
effectively. Also the scent of decomposition
would be much less. Scavengers would be
less often attracted and more often deterred.


Paul.


Until quite recently, most on-the-go nomadic burials were done by laying
stones on top of the deceased as he lay upon the ground, not under it.
They had no real digging tools, and if they were truly nomadic, did not
have the time to spare for ceremony.

I'd guess they also used Sky Burials - as some nomads still do, today -
especially where it's rocky - but you gotta have some source of wood
somewhere. And there's super-nomadic and not-so-nomadic, as I'm sure
you know. Some nomads, for example, went up and down the Urals
seasonally - a pretty long distance, fishing out salmon up north,
smoking and drying it - on wood racks. They liked building wood racks
and wood things in general - they would settle into their winter
quarters using both layered stones and wood posts. There's a bit more
research involving ancient plant fossil remnants - but a lot of prime
sites were dug out without that kind of microscopic analysis in mind,
naturally.

OTOH, Russians are getting more into archaeology all the time - and
keep finding interesting things. There have been sky burials among
nomads of Siberia within the past 50 years - there's even a photo of
one, somewhere.

If they were on the frozen tundra, they would have wrapped the deceased
in his own clothing or blanket (a loss to the survivors!) or left him
behind for the bears. A sure sign of respect would be that they at least
covered his face.

If on the seashore, the grave would have been dug in soft sand, and
calcification would have been less likely due to erosion and predation.

I'm not sure if the discussion is on whether the beginnings of burial
originated out of respect, necessity, obligation or superstition, but I
am certain that we are looking for a first sign of human consciousness
and self-awareness.

It's such an interesting question/impulse. A lot of prehistory has
been predicated on the fact that underground burials represent some
kind of year round settlement - but it might not have been a year round
place for everyone at all stages of life. Nomads may have been
interrelated with STAH - I'm reading a book on Death and Burial from
around 1998 - great stuff.

So who do you think had the higher mortality rates? The nomads or the
semi-settled? I mean - while actually living their respective
lifestyles, even if some went back and forth between the two? Or do
you guess it equal?

A.

.

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