Oft en buried with the bodies were off erings that archae-
ologists call “grave goods.” Sometimes these goods are lav-
ish, in the form of fi nely craft ed objects made from expensive
materials, and sometimes they are meager or absent. Archae-
ologists debate the signifi cance of grave goods. Th e items
certainly refl ect the ability of the deceased person’s family
and community to acquire objects and to dispose of them by
burying with the corpse. Th e question is whether they refl ect
the status and rank of the deceased person or are a symbolic
display by the survivors that has ritual or spiritual meaning.
Another key feature of mortuary practice in ancient Eu-
rope was the construction of mounds (also called “barrows,”
“tumuli,” or “kurgans”), cairns (mounds of small stones),
megalithic tombs (built of large stones forming chambers),
or wooden structures over the grave or as crypts. Careful at-
tention was paid to the locations of these structures in the
landscape. Th ey were oft en positioned where they could be
viewed from afar or, in some cases, only when approached
from a particular direction. Over time burial monuments ac-
cumulated in specifi c localities to create “ritual landscapes”
of mounds and other features.
Archaeologists also debate the time at which human be-
ings began to bury their dead in a formal, careful way. Th e
practice dates well back into the Paleolithic Period (8,000
b.c.e. and earlier). A triple burial from Dolní Věstonice in
the Czech Republic dates to 25,660 b.c.e., while at Sungir’
in northern Russia, several individuals were buried around
22,000 b.c.e., some ornamented with thousands of beads.
Cemeteries, specifi c localities devoted to repeated burials
over a long time, appear during the Mesolithic Period in
about 7,000–5,000 b.c.e. At Skateholm in southern Sweden
about 90 people (and several dogs) were buried in a variety of
positions, oft en with deer antlers and other artifacts, while at
Téviec and Hoëdic in Brittany (France), single, double, and
multiple graves, some in stone cists and containing antlers,
were associated with large ritual hearths.
During the Neolithic Period, burials became elabo-
rate and diverse. Sometimes they were in cemeteries sepa-
rate from settlements, as in central Europe between 5500
and 5000 b.c.e., and at other times they are found within
settlements, as at sites like Brześć Kujawski and Osłonki in
Poland a millennium later. Elongated mounds called “long
barrows” were constructed over graves in several parts of
Europe, including Poland, Denmark, Britain, and France.
Some of the best-known Neolithic burials are the megalithic
tombs of western Europe and Scandinavia, constructed
between 4000 and 2000 b.c.e. Large stone slabs were set
upright to form chambers and passages, while other large
stones formed roofs; the whole construction was covered
with earth or small stones. Th ousands of megalithic tombs
were built, usually as collective graves into which whole
bodies or defl eshed or cremated bones were placed on many
occasions. A tomb at La Chaussée-Tirancourt in France
contained the remains of more than 360 people, many of
which had been rearranged during subsequent openings
of the chamber. At Newgrange and other Irish megalithic
tombs, cremated bones were placed in small chambers that
opened off the main passage.
During the Neolithic we also see glimpses of sudden and
violent death. A mass grave at Talheim in Germany contains
the bodies of at least 34 men, women, and children. Many had
suff ered blows to their skulls from stone axes. In 1991 hikers
found the frozen body of a man known as “Ötzi,” or the “Ice-
man,” in the Alps, where he had died 5,300 years earlier. His
body showed evidence of a hard life, including injuries and an
arrow wound, although the cause of his death is unknown.
Late in the Neolithic and into the Bronze Age, between
about 3000 and 1200 b.c.e., single burials under mounds
became common across much of Europe. Examples are the
famous barrows of the Wessex culture, associated with Stone-
henge in southern England, which contained artifacts of gold
and other exotic materials. At Leubingen in central Germany,
a barrow covered a timber mortuary house in which an elite
person was interred around 2000 b.c.e. In Denmark around
1250 b.c.e., oak trunks were hollowed out as coffi ns, which
preserved hair, textiles, and grave goods superbly.
Around 1200 b.c.e. the burial rite over many parts of
Europe shift ed to cremation, with the ashes buried in urns.
Some cremation cemeteries, such as Kietrz in southern Po-
land, contain thousands of graves. Elsewhere bodies contin-
ued to be buried, as in the very rich so-called prince’s graves
in southwest Germany and eastern France, around 500 b.c.e.,
at sites like Hochdorf and Vix. Later in the Iron Age (1000
b.c.e.–500 c.e.) some corpses were thrown into bogs and
ponds across northern Europe, where they remained remark-
ably preserved. Th ese “bog bodies” were either human sacri-
fi ces or executed criminals. During the early part of the fi rst
millennium of the Common Era, the burial rites throughoutPottery cinerary urn shaped like a hut, early Italian iron age 900–800
b.c.e (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)
318 death and burial practices: Europe