Mesolithic heritage in early Neolithic burial rituals and personal adornments

Abstract

Some burial rituals such as cremation or the use of colorants, especially ochre, have old roots in the preceding Mesolithic and even in the Palaeolithic. The evidence for these old rituals is more dense in central or western Europe than in south east Europe, whence most of the new Neo- lithic ideas came. Among the personal adornments a small amount of snail-shell ornaments, stag tusks, tusks of wild boar and pendants made from antler are of special interest. People wearing these very traditional, old adornments are generally equipped with precious ‘new’ things such as Spondylus, ceramics, adzes etc, and therefore show them as high status people in early Neolithic society.

Keywords

• graveyards
• use of ochre
• snail-shell adornments
• hunting attributes