A comparative analysis of Eurasian Palaeolithic burials

Abstract The study of variability in archaeological mortuary populations can be informative in view of the tendency for mortuary organization to reflect social organization, even in the case of widely scattered Palaeolithic burials. Data were compiled on 132 Middle and Upper Palaeolithic burials from Europe and Asia. Comparisons of the occurrence of such variables as body position and grave furnishing were made within and between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic groupings, and tested for significance by simple statistical procedures. Significant contrasts were particularly clear between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic groups. Not only did the two samples differ sharply in the treatment of female subjects, but the Upper Palaeolithic burials were found to be generally more variable and complex according to several criteria, implying that the sociocultural systems they represent were also more complex than those of the Middle Palaeolithic.