Along with taking Archaeology of death I have been taking Palaeolithic Archaeology as well as The Neandertals, which of course have all combined over the course of semester on one very interesting topic. Neandertal burials. Very cool. At the site of Sima de las Palomas there are remains of six to seven other Neandertals including an infant and two juveniles. The burials have associated tools, food as well as well as a panthers paw. The interesting fact about the panthers paw is that the rest of the skeleton was buried way from the Neandertal skeletons, which would give the impression that the paws were removed intentionally and were put in the grave on purpose, possibly for ritual or spiritual purposes. The bodies appeared to be intentionally buried because the arms were folded "such that the hands were close to the head" and other individuals have been found in the same position. In the article it states that the researchers could not be 100% certain that the individuals were all related but they states that the child was related to one of them.
Based off of what I have learned in all my classes this semester I want to believe that Neandertals did have burial practices, as there is a lot of evidence in circulation and because have discussed it so much in such a wide variety of classes it must have some validity. I just find it very interesting that Neandertals would bury their dead, as that likely means that they had some kind of thoughts in relation to an afterlife. I'd like to learn about what those types of thoughts were if they did have any inclination to afterlife and where they may have gotten the idea to bury there dead.
Just keep learning... just keep learning.
Here is the web page where you I found some information!
http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/neanderthal-burial-ground-afterlife-110420.htm
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