Funerary Practices in Western Europe from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Early Neolithic: A Multivariate Analysis

The aim of this thesis was to create databases of funerary remains dating from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Early Neolithic from an extensive area of Western Europe (Portugal, Spain, Andorra, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg) to identify geographical and chronological continuities and variations of several aspects of mortuary practices. These aspects include where the deceased were placed in the landscape if the funerary context was modified (or not), the material culture that was deposited with the deceased, the type of treatment given to the body, and if social categories such as gender and social age influenced how the dead were deposited. Through the study of these aspects of funerary practices an interpretation of how past societies understood death, their bodies, and their surroundings is made. Monte Carlo plots are used to analyse change through time. Some of the analysed variables seem to have influenced other variables (e.g., the sex of the deceased likely influenced the type of funerary offerings) and this was analysed using χ2 tests. The geographical distribution of cultural patterns was visualised using ArcGIS. The key findings of this research show how around 7500-6000 cal BC several changes regarding funerary practices occurred in Western Europe. The main changes are: that the deceased started to be buried rather than left unburied; that individuals generally started to be deposited complete and in single deposits rather than disarticulated in multiple deposits; changes in the offerings deposited alongside the deceased; the appearance of cultural traditions regarding offerings in Téviec, Hoëdic and the Linear Pottery Culture area; and an increasing influence of gender and social age in funerary customs.