Human burial practices had their origin in the Levant, Israeli researchers say

The burial practices of Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens originated in the Levant region around 120,000 years ago, according to a new study published in the journal L'Anthropologie. Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Haifa University in Israel analyzed 32 ancient gravesites in the Levant, including 17 Neanderthal burials and 15 Homo sapiens burials, shedding light on the cultural practices of these ancient hominins.

The Levant, encompassing modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories, was a cultural crossroads during the Middle Paleolithic period. Both groups of hominins arrived at similar times and lived side by side for tens of thousands of years. "The innovation of burial actually began in the Levant," Dr. Omry Barzilai, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa, stated.

The researchers compared the location of burial sites, the position of skeletons, the sex and age of the buried individuals, and the presence of objects placed alongside the deceased to highlight notable differences between the two communities. Neanderthals tended to bury their dead deeper inside caves, often using large stones as accompanying objects. In some cases, they used modified pieces of limestone as headrests, possibly serving as rudimentary pillows or headstones.

In contrast, Homo sapiens favored burying their dead at the entrances to caves or under natural shelters, sometimes including ocher and marine shells in their burials. The practice of using ochre or shells is totally absent among Neanderthals. Both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens included various items in graves, such as small stones, animal bones, or horns, which may have held deep meaning for the living.

There was a higher percentage of infant deaths among Neanderthals compared to Homo sapiens, and Neanderthal infant burials were more common due to this higher mortality rate. The study suggests that the emergence of burial practices in the Levant may have been related to an increase in population density caused by an influx of migrants from East Africa. "Our hypothesis is that the increase in the frequency of burials by these two populations in Western Asia is linked to the intensifying competition for resources and space, arising from the arrival of these populations," the researchers stated in their article.

Some archaeologists think competition may have played a role in the burial practices of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, possibly linked to intensified competition for resources and space. National Geographic reported that burying a body inside a cave might have been a way of claiming it—not just for the dead, but for those who would return season after season. "A cave is an asset," Dr. Barzilai told National Geographic.

The researchers speculate that the act of burying the dead may have served a secondary purpose of marking territory. "We know when there are a lot of groups living in the same territory, and there is resulting pressure over, say, resources, they start using burials to mark their connection to specific caves," Ella Been stated. Both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens buried people of all ages, including men, women, children, and infants.

After Neanderthals became extinct around 50,000 years ago, human burials seem to have stopped in this part of the world for tens of thousands of years. This cessation of burials is considered another intriguing data point worth investigating further. "It's puzzling. Burials are a significant part of culture. Why they suddenly stopped is a question that remains," the researchers wrote, according to zmescience.com.

"The data are limited, but this is an impressive survey," John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who did not participate in the research, told Live Science. However, he expressed caution about drawing definitive conclusions. "There appear to have been consistent burial practices that distinguished Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens burials," Hawks stated. "This is surprising because all of these small, scattered populations wouldn't be expected to share cultural practices over long stretches of space and time."

The researchers acknowledge the limitations of their study due to the small number of burials found. "We should do more excavations. Maybe in three years, or 30, or 300, we'll find more burials, and the implications will change," Been noted to Live Science.

The nature of the objects accompanying the deceased differs between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, revealing profound differences between the two human groups. For instance, shells appeared in some Homo sapiens graves, likely carried from distant shores, perhaps to mark kinship or social ties.

National Geographic, Archaeology Magazine, and Science Alert reported on the research, among others.

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq