12,000-year-old Göbeklitepe burials explain scattered bones
3 days ago
- Two intact burials found at Göbeklitepe, dating to 8,700–8,000 BCE, provide new clues about burial practices.
- Previously, hundreds of scattered human bone fragments were found; new study suggests many came from ordinary subfloor burials disturbed by erosion and slope slides.
- One burial pit under a plaster floor contained remains of at least three people (woman, man, girl), with skulls clustered and other bones separated.
- The bones showed no cut marks or ochre, but rodent gnawing, post-death breaks, and calcareous deposits; a second burial held a flexed young woman.
- The scattered bone fragments match the damage patterns of the intact burials, explaining their dispersal over 3,000 sq meters and through several meters of deposits.
- The findings suggest that many remains came from normal subfloor burials disturbed by mound movement, not necessarily a single unusual burial rite.
- Some skulls with deliberate cuts and overrepresentation of cranial fragments indicate special treatment for some individuals, requiring further study.