Paleolithic Burial Rituals

During the Middle and Upper Paleolithic era, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis started to create works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewelry as well as religious behavior through burial rights and rituals. These burials are important since it signifies a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life,” (Lieberman). These burial rights and rituals can be dated back to the Middle Paleolithic era, overlapping with the first appearance of Homo neanderthalensis. While it may be disputed, evidence suggests that the Homo neanderthalensis were the first to intentionally bury the dead in shallow graves along with what is assumed to be their possessions (Wikipedia).

At burial grounds such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula, France, archeologists found cut marks on the bones on the deceased which suggest that the Homo sapiens might have practiced defleshing (Wikipedia). Defleshing, or excarnation, is a burial practice where one removes the flesh and organs of the dead;

this could signify the soul leaving the body (Merriam-Webster). Not only did the neanderthalensis practice excarnation, but they also buried their dead in grave with the stone tools and even animal bones (Wikipedia). The first undisputed, human burial goes back 100,000 years ago where human skeletal remains that were stained red ochre along with wild boar remains (Wikipedia). The ochre is thought to represent the body becoming one with the earth or some type of ritual rebirth (Wikipedia). As well as practicing burial rites, archeologists also think that the Homo neanderthalensis used an early form of animal worship that mainly focused on bears.
During the 1900’s, Emil Bächler, an archeologist, found bear remains in caves in Switzerland and in Mornova Cave in Slovenia (Wikipedia).

The bear skulls and limbs were not particularly interesting themselves but how they were unnaturally arranged in the ground. Bächler found that the bones were arranged into a perfect circle and believed that they were intentionally placed in a circle so it could be used in some sort of bear cult ceremony. While this may be just a theory, archeologists suggest that this was the origin story of animal worshipping that took place in the Upper Paleolithic era.

During the Upper Paleolithic era, animal worship often intertwined with hunting. Evidence taken from art and bear remains shows that this bear cult had a rite where they would shoot a bear with arrows and then kill it with a shot in the lungs. The bear was then ceremonially buried near a clay bear figure that was covered with bear fur; the skull and the body of the bear were then buried separately

(Wikipedia).