Předmostí - An Alternative Model Interpreting Burial Sites - Ullrich - 1996

The Gravettian site at Předmostí in Moravia represents a unique Upper Palaeolithic mass burial. It is generally considered that entire intact corpses of 18 humans were commonly buried in one grave covered with 2 mammoth shoulder blades and a limestone layer. In a recent publication the position of the skeletons was reconstructed. We present an alternative model interpreting the burial rites in Předmostí based on the patterns of skeletal part representation of the human bones, the anatomical position of the bones, artificial bone modifications resulting from modifications on human corpses (defleshing, dismemberment) and on the evidence of biological relationship. The results of our investigations demonstrate that there is no evidence for burial of entire intact corpses of the dead. There is strong evidence that only bones, mainly in a disarticulated state, of a deceased, biologically related group were buried in the grave pit.

Keywords

Upper Palaeolithic - Předmostí - Skeletal representation - Bone modifications - Burial rites - Bone burial site

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