Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DEATHREVOL (The roots and evolution of the culture-of-death. A taphonomic research of the European Paleolithic record)
Período documentado: 2022-10-01 hasta 2024-03-31
The emergence of the culture of death is one of the most interesting and contentious areas of research in the field of human evolution, since it provides a window into understanding the origin and evolution of the human mind. When did our ancestors begin to acquire the funerary practices? How has this behavior manifested in time and space? Did this behavior appear independently in different human species?
DEATHREVOL project aims to investigate the origin of funerary behavior during the Middle Pleistocene and throughout the European Paleolithic archaeological record. The main working hypothesis is that funerary practices first emerged during the Middle Pleistocene among hominins predating the Neandertals. This project aims to fill the gap in taphonomic studies on Paleolithic humans and is the first extensive effort to investigate the European fossil record through a comprehensive multi-taphonomic study.
This project includes the following specific objectives: 1) Determine the emergence of the culture of death by searching for taphonomic signs of intentional treatment of the dead in European Middle Pleistocene fossils.; 2) Trace funerary behavior during the Late Pleistocene (Middle and Upper Paleolithic) using a multi-taphonomic approach. This objective focuses on the forensic-taphonomic analysis of Late Pleistocene hominins, including Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens. 3) The third objective is intended to create a database of multi-taphonomic observations in different contexts from archaeological assemblages from Pleistocene as well as the use of experimental taphonomic collections as a comparative framework. 4) To establish a detailed taphonomic protocol for the analysis of hominin fossil assemblages. 5) the objective 5 intends to propose systematic models on the funerary behaviors throughout the Paleolithic.
The second stage (WS2) consists of data analysis. This includes the statistical treatment of the data, the realisation of the virtual reconstructions of the fossils, the design and implementation of the Geographic Information Systems specific to each site, and the mathematical modelling and data analysis. We are currently in the process of completing this WS, having completed the data analysis of some of the analysed collections and are in the process of doing so for others.
The third Work stage (WS3) involves the integration of results. This project aims to create a European multi-proxy database of taphonomic data based on a large number of interrelated methods and analytical procedures. Therefore, we are developing an integrative approach aimed at proposing systemic models of ancient population behaviour during the Pleistocene in Europe. This involves planning, discussion and interpretation tasks in the main lines of research: virtual techniques, spatial analysis and machine learning.
After data analysis and integration, the final step is scientific and public dissemination. We regularly attend international conferences on archaeology and human evolution (29 so far). We have published some articles in scientific journals, although we are working on some papers that will be submitted for publication in the coming months. Finally, we regularly disseminate our results and investigations to the public, both nationally and internationally, through social networks, a website specifically designed for this project, lectures, conferences, school activities and participation in many outreach programmes.
Nevertheless, taphonomic and forensic analyses on human remains form a readily available dataset for exploring wider funerary activity, and hence is essential for human evolutionary thanatology. DEATHREVOL represents the first large-scale project focused on a thorough multi-taphonomic study of the European fossil record. Thanks to new methodological approaches in the field of taphonomy and to exceptional fossil sites, we are succeeding in elucidating the fundamental facets of the behaviour of our ancestors.
In terms of expected outcomes by the end of the project, we will focus on accepting or refuting the main hypothesis of the project, which is whether or not funerary practices first emerged during the Middle Pleistocene among pre-Neanderthal hominins and represent early manifestations of a culture of death. Once we have achieved the planned objectives, we intend to disseminate the results in scientific publications. In particular, we plan to organise an international workshop at the end of the fourth year of the project to discuss the taphonomic features, methods and implications for human behaviour. Following this workshop, we plan to publish an edited open access volume that will represent the most up-to-date research on the emergence and evolution of the culture of death in the Palaeolithic.