EARLY EVIDENCE OF SINGLE, MULTIPLE, AND COLLECTIVE (?) BURIALS IN THE LEVANT

The Levant provides the earliest evidence in Eurasia for funerary practises illustrated by intentional burials dated to the Middle Palaeolithic Period. Such burial behaviour was shared by distinct human groups that have alternated use of the Mediterranean Levant between 130.000 and 50.000 years BP and were associated with distinct Mousterian assemblages. Within a sample of 6 sites (Skhul, Tabun, Kebara, Amud, Qafzeh and Dederiyeh), two of them in northern Israel (Qafzeh and Skhul) have to be distinguished by a higher number of burials and evidence of other symbolic activities. The Mousterian toolmakers in both sites are viewed as essentially early modern human in skeletal anatomy.