Burials Within Settlements of the Linienbandkeramik and Stichbandkeramik Cultures of Central Europe. On the Social Construction of Death in Early-Neolithic Society

Starting with the recognition that cemeteries are not the only places in which death can be studied, the paper surveys the evidence for 'burials within settlements' of the early- and middle-Neolithic period of central Europe and tries to place it within the wider context of the spatial and social organisation of death in Neolithic society. Contrary to earlier hypotheses it can be argued that burials within settlements, although far from being the dominant mode of the disposal of the dead, nevertheless formed an integral part of early-Neolithic burial practices. This becomes especially obvious when we compare the evidence of formal and demographic characteristics available so far with the data from contemporary cemeteries. Some hypotheses are raised concerning the extent of these practices and their possible social and symbolic meaning. Notwithstanding the great number of questions that have to remain unanswered, the available evidence makes unmistakably clear that, in Neolithic times, not only the peoples in the near East or in atlantic Europe but also those living in central Europe held complex and long-lasting burial rituals and funerals, which created a permanent tie between the living and the dead.