substances such as red ochre, a practice which has been noted on the remains
of our extinct cousins, the Neanderthals, and in many societies around the
world ever since. Noone knows why red ochre was used in this way–it is yet
another archaeological mystery.
Bodies may simply have been placed in the ground, clothed or unclothed,
or wrapped in a shroud. They may have been placed in coffins of wood or lead
or stone. They may have been interred under a barrow mound, or in a simple
grave, or within a specially built tomb, or in a cave or a bog. All these factors
will affect how much evidence has survived.
There are also problems about the social context of ancient crimes. Before
the adoption of literacy in the ancient civilisations of the Near East, we have
no information about how communities maintained order without courts and
police forces. How were suspects identified, apprehended, and treated? Which
crimes were considered to be punishable and to what extent? Who decided
guilt or innocence, and passed sentence? Without the arts of forensic science
and the skills of lawyers working within a framework of published laws, it is
probable that decisions were often made on the basis of public opinion or
emotion, perhaps with guidance from chiefs, priests or shamans. It is possible
to imagine that there were, at least in later prehistory, commonly accepted
standards of criminality and punishment, which although not written down,
were understood by most people. Indeed, there are some clues to this effect in
later documents, recorded in succeeding literate periods, such as ancient Irish
and Germanic laws.
The earliest law codes
The preexistence of codes of behaviour is suggested by the form and nature
of the very first recorded law codes. Evidence that ancient societies felt the
need to establish law and order, and to deal with crime comes down to us
fromthe earliest of the ancient civilisations to use writing. Clay tablets,
inscribed with cuneiform script, recorded judicial cases and law codes, as did
carved inscriptions on rock stelae or pillars. Cuneiform writing began around
5 ,000 years ago in the ancient Near East. It was used to make inventories, to
record prayers, and to make a record of legal proceedings. For day to day
purposes, a small block of fresh clay was prepared, and the symbols were
impressed into it with the tip of a cut reed (Figure 5). It was a very flexible
system, combining a form of alphabetical writing with types of shorthand
that developed in complexity over time. The clay tablets could then be fired
in a kiln, or sundried; once hardened in this way, they could, and do, last for
millennia.
THE OLDEST CRIMES