Neolithic Bodies by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Europe / General
ISBN: 9781785709029
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2018-07-09T00:00:00+00:00

HOUSES OF THE DEAD

The human remains from Bestansur can be further situated by reviewing the contemporary evidence from sites with so-called Houses of the Dead, in particular Çayönü in southeastern Turkey and Abu Hureyra and Dj’ade al-Mughara in Syria. The famous Skull Building at Çayönü appears to have been in use for up to 1000 years from c.8500 cal BC (Özdoğan 1999). The Skull Building was rebuilt through multiple phases before being destroyed by fire at the end of its life. In total, at least 450 individuals are represented by the human remains from this building, principally as skulls and long bones, often in association with skulls and bones of wild cattle, and occasionally with burial goods such as beads. The curation and deposition of human remains within the Skull Building is tightly choreographed through space and time, with set stages in the sequential treatment of cadavers, skulls, skeletons and single bones. The age and sex distribution of the Skull Building dead appears to be inclusive of all categories, except for infants below two years old, in contrast to the pattern seen at Bestansur Building 5.

A further connection between Çayönü and Bestansur and other sites of the Iraqi Zagros region is the occurrence of numbers of retouched obsidian blades of the type known as Çayönü tools, which appear from about 8000 cal BC, as well as the adoption of pressure blade lithic technology in eastern Mesopotamia and Anatolia at about the same time (Kozlowski 1999). The widespread occurrence of Çayönü tools across the eastern Fertile Crescent and their association with polished alabaster bowls and bracelets vividly attests the inter-connectedness of Early Neolithic communities across the Taurus-Zagros zone, as also evidenced by commonalities in the traditions and practices of disposal of the human dead.

Further west, at the site of Abu Hureyra on the Syrian Euphrates, the Phase 8 building in Trench B, dating to c.9000 cal BC, is a most informative parallel for Bestansur Building 5 (Moore & Molleson 2000). Room 3 of the Abu Hureyra building has the remains of at least 24 individuals laid on its successive floors through a lengthy period of use. It appears to have functioned as a room where bodies were placed in order to decay, to enable the separation of skulls and other elements for deposition elsewhere. At least one skull had been wrapped in matting before being laid on the floor, similar to at Bestansur where a skull fragment was found on the remains of matting. Destruction of the Abu Hureyra building by fire meant that the bodies on the floor of Room 3 were never removed from what was likely intended as a temporary resting place before progress to the next step of structured deposition, probably as formal burials under house floors. It is not yet clear whether bodies were being laid out on the floors of Space 50 at Bestansur, but a few scattered bones apparently lying on the floors suggest this possibility. If so, this would be a practice very similar to that attested at Abu Hureyra.

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