Today, a discussion that came up was the topic of Neanderthal burials. From other classes, I'd been lead to believe that Neanderthals possibly had complex burial rituals, evidenced by burying their dead, ochre use and possible flowers left on grave. To start, society's main notion of Neanderthals is the big dumb brute they'd been made out to be. When I now hear this stereotype, it sends me in a maddened frenzy. Lately, what has been peaked on my interest scale was the idea of an afterlife.
If you bury your dead, doesn't that mean you have some sort of notion that there is a 'proper' and 'improper' way to dispose of the dead? This brings me to the topic of ochre in Neanderthal burials. Traces have been found on walls of caves and on flint pieces near burial sites. This article explains (somewhat difficultly because of all the jargon) about the findings at the burial sites.
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/6/1889.full
Ochre has always had somewhat of a mystical connotation for me. It is basically a dye or paint which can be used on walls or skin. So what exactly did the Neanderthals using this substance believe it had symbolized by it? We may never know, but what we can infer is that it had a meaning and possibly a whole spiritual belief linked to it. I've always found the idea of body painting or modification fascinating, especially with such an ancient group of individuals.
Something somewhat disappointing that I'd learned recently was about the pollen found on Neanderthal bones. I had always played with the idea that flowers and ochre had some supreme meaning to burials. Turns out, the flower pollen found could have just been left by rodents. This unfulfilling new find has left me to think about Neanderthal burials in a new light. However dampened my fantasy of Neanderthals participating in an almost pagan burial ceremony with lots of flowers and ochre may be, it still is a subject that I wish we had more direct evidence that the ceremony had some sort spiritual meaning. Maybe one day!
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