Grave gifts manifest the ritual status of cattle in Neolithic societies of northern Germany

Abstract

The Neolithic period in NW-Europe marks a time of major transformation in human lifestyle including sedentism, farming, agropastoralism with early animal husbandry and the use of ornamented pottery by “Funnelbeaker” societies. Domestic animals, in particular cattle, served for traction, plowing, and manuring to support agricultural production but also supplied a variety of dietary products including meat, fat, and milk as well as wool. The impact of animal husbandry on improved living conditions in Neolithic societies and in a religious context has been inferred throughout NW-Europe and even earlier in African and Arabian regions by ritual cattle deposits. However, a potential spiritual/religious role of cattle in Neolithic societies is difficult to assess further due to the lack of interpretable Neolithic illustrations. Here, we demonstrate the ritual role of cattle in Neolithic societies from burial gifts preserved in Megalith tombs (3640–2900 BC) of Wangels, NW-Germany, where storage vessels for afterlife alimentary provision of the deceased contained cattle meat and milk products identified by their characteristic lipids but no common aquatic food sources or cereals. Pottery from the latest burial phase only yielded fatty acids which may derive from essential plant oils of Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) that may have served as precious burial gift for medical or for alimentary purposes. The status of cattle as an object of veneration in Neolithic societies is represented by its dominating contribution to grave gifts underlining the esteem cattle received not only in agroeconomical but even further in ritual and religious respect.