Richness and Diversity of Burial Rituals in the Upper Paleolithic

Bibliographic Data

ID4899229
AuthorsGiacomo Giacobini (0000-0003-2422-0721, University of Turin, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume54
Issue2
Pages19-39
Publication date2007-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiogenes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0392-1921 • E-ISSN: 1467-7695
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0392192107077649
OpenAlexW2135301090
LanguageEN
Citations received23

Among the cultural innovations by which the Upper Palaeolithic period is characterized, those relating to burial practices furnish the possibility of evaluating the profound changes which differentiated this era from the Middle Palaeolithic. The graves of the Upper Palaeolithic offer us a sometimes very compelling glimpse of the complexity of the symbolic, cognitive and social environment of those peoples, as well as of the evolution and diversification over time and space of their rituals associated with death. This article considers the set of burials discovered to date within the boundaries of Italy as particularly representative of these features. Numerous, diverse and well-endowed, they provide important information about the peoples of the Upper Palaeolithic and of the way they responded to death. These graves also represent a significant body of evidence for the debate on the degree to which Palaeolithic man can be considered culturally fully human and the extent to which he intentionally buried his dead

Archaeology · Ethnology · Geography · Sociology · Species richness · Upper Paleolithic · Anthropology · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Geology · Paleontology

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