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Question: ancient burials.
#1
Question: ancient burials.
Can somebody share their knowledge about earliest "human burials"?
Archeology  is not my field that's why I'm a bit confused.

Thing is, Neanderthals used to have "animal cults" and used to bury some of the animals in what is suspected to be "rituals".
What is the earliest evidences for burials; for both us and for Neanderthals?
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#2
RE: Question: ancient burials.
Look up Homo naledi.
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#3
RE: Question: ancient burials.
Not sure (and can't be arsed to look it up) but the earliest burials might have had something to do with getting rid of the stench and not attracting scavengers.

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#4
RE: Question: ancient burials.
Really depends on what you're looking for.  The earliest evidence of people throwing the dead into holes in the ground is alot older than the line archaeologists and anthropologists draw for burials.  

Conveniently, it's the line -between- archaeology and anthropology.  As disposal of bodies is a practical matter for human settlement, whereas burial is a cultural artifact.  The clearest evidence for burial as opposed to disposal comes from the paleolithic, particularly in the use of red ochre.  We've been doing it for at least 100k years.  Give or take 30k more for a few neanderthal sites and how long it took for the practice to become ubiquitous.

As far as we can tell, this was the beginning of religion, lol. The connection between death, dreaming, sleeping, needing, living and the otherworld was all established here. This expressed itself in ways that we can find, today, in burial rituals that became increasingly elaborate and started to give us a glimpse into social orders and relative levels of material wealth between societies and between individuals in societies - though, what those relative measures mean in the specifics is widely open to interpretation. We don't know, for example, what level of present pain the living where willing to inflict on themselves on account of the dead. If we find an adorned gravesite we can know that great care was taken in the moment of ritual, and we might posit that whomever was buried was well loved and well off - but they might be hated members of a high social rank in a tribe with meager resources. Some sites were looted relatively soon after their completion. We don't know if the sites were marked, in the beginning, either, so it may have been a sendoff for closure that nobody gave much thought to after the fact. By the neolithic there's a clearer picture, mostly due to there being more people, and more sites. Burial, and broadly, death...had become the central focus of religious life. So it remains to this day, as a simple matter of classification, all of the worlds major religions are forms of a death cult.
(yes, lol, even buddhism)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_religion
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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#5
RE: Question: ancient burials.
(April 21, 2019 at 9:24 am)Gae Bolga Wrote: Really depends on what you're looking for.  The earliest evidence of people throwing the dead into holes in the ground is alot older than the line archaeologists and anthropologists draw for burials.  

And "sky burials" probably are older still. Leave the body to make the scavengers happy and they'll leave you alone.
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#6
RE: Question: ancient burials.
(April 20, 2019 at 4:32 pm)AtlasS33 Wrote: Can somebody share their knowledge about earliest "human burials"?
Archeology  is not my field that's why I'm a bit confused.

Thing is, Neanderthals used to have "animal cults" and used to bury some of the animals in what is suspected to be "rituals".
What is the earliest evidences for burials; for both us and for Neanderthals?

I've been subscribing to this magazine for over two decades. I think you'd find it highly enjoyable and informative: https://archaeology.subscriptioncore.com...-gQAvD_BwE
"The world is my country; all of humanity are my brethren; and to do good deeds is my religion." (Thomas Paine)
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#7
RE: Question: ancient burials.
I check that for obits.
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#8
RE: Question: ancient burials.
(April 21, 2019 at 9:27 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(April 21, 2019 at 9:24 am)Gae Bolga Wrote: Really depends on what you're looking for.  The earliest evidence of people throwing the dead into holes in the ground is alot older than the line archaeologists and anthropologists draw for burials.  

And "sky burials" probably are older still. Leave the body to make the scavengers happy and they'll leave you alone.

The purest form of the "not fast, just faster than the other guy" theory of predator evasion.  Wink
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Reply
#9
RE: Question: ancient burials.
(April 21, 2019 at 9:47 am)Gae Bolga Wrote:
(April 21, 2019 at 9:27 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: And "sky burials" probably are older still. Leave the body to make the scavengers happy and they'll leave you alone.

The purest form of the "not fast, just faster than the other guy" theory of predator evasion.  Wink

I used to explain that as I was leading a tour down to see the largest pack of Mexican wolves ever recorded. I also added

"If, during the tour, you hear a siren, klaxon, rapidly ring bell or continuously sounding shrill whistle, look at me. If I'm still there, it's not an emergency." Razz
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#10
RE: Question: ancient burials.
(April 21, 2019 at 9:47 am)Gae Bolga Wrote:
(April 21, 2019 at 9:27 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: And "sky burials" probably are older still. Leave the body to make the scavengers happy and they'll leave you alone.

The purest form of the "not fast, just faster than the other guy" theory of predator evasion.  Wink

The purest form would be to make the other guy’s velocity negative by pushing him towards the lion.
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