Emergence of corpse cremation during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant: A multidisciplinary study of a pyre-pit burial

PLoS One. 2020 Aug 12;15(8):e0235386. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235386. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Renewed excavations at the Neolithic site of Beisamoun (Upper Jordan Valley, Israel) has resulted in the discovery of the earliest occurrence of an intentional cremation in the Near East directly dated to 7031-6700 cal BC (Pre-Pottery Neolithic C, also known as Final PPNB, which spans ca. 7100-6400 cal BC). The funerary treatment involved in situ cremation within a pyre-pit of a young adult individual who previously survived from a flint projectile injury. In this study we have used a multidisciplinary approach that integrates archaeothanatology, spatial analysis, bioanthropology, zooarchaeology, soil micromorphological analysis, and phytolith identification in order to reconstruct the different stages and techniques involved in this ritual: cremation pit construction, selection of fuel, possible initial position of the corpse, potential associated items and funerary containers, fire management, post-cremation gesture and structure abandonment. The origins and development of cremation practices in the region are explored as well as their significance in terms of Northern-Southern Levantine connections during the transition between the 8th and 7th millennia BC.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Burial / history*
  • Cremation / history*
  • History, Ancient
  • Humans

Grants and funding

The Irene Levi Sala Care Archaeological Foundation supported financially this research project untitled Domesticating decay during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic: emergence of corpse cremation in Southern Levant (F. Bocquentin and A. Rosen Dir.). The soil micromorphology analyses were partially funded by the Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Grant No. 435-2016-1123). We are also indebted to our host institutes and financial supporters which make possible the renewed excavation program at Beisamoun: French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS, UMR7041, Ethnologie Préhistorique), Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), French center of Research at Jerusalem (CRFJ), French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEAE).