Les Sépultures néanderthaliennes du Proche-Orient : état de la question

Abstract

For the Middle Palaeolithic, the best proofs of symbolic activities remain the burial practices. New informations about these practices, already known for Eastern Neanderthals at Amud, Tabun and Shanidar sites, are brought with the recent burial discovered in Kebara. For the first time, a posterior human action on a primary burial can be argued. In South-East Asia, besides the Neanderthals, first anatomically modern men are recognized in two sites (Skhul and Qafzeh), also associated with a mousterian archaeological context. A preliminary appraisal of the funeral practices in the two populations provides no evidence of marked behavioural differences between them.