23. burial

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Evidence of respectful burial ceremonies was unearthed in 1957, at a cave in Shanidar in the mountains of northern Iraq. A 45,000 year old Neanderthal skeleton was surrounded by patches of flower pollen, showing scientists and historians that the man was laid to rest upon a woven mattress of pine boughs and flowers, as well as having flowers strewn across his body. The pollen of the flowers around the corpse are ones that are still used today in Iraq as herbal medicines, and could have been put with him for aid in the afterlife. However, there is no evidence in jewelry, paintings, or other forms of self-expression concerning beliefs of such a place.

An artist's interpretation of the burial at the cave in Shanidar.

Sources: http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba66/feat1.shtml Origins Manual, page 36.

Picture: [[1]]

-Julia Smith