A recent study published in PLOS One reveals that the practice of cremation has been used by humans since the Neolithic era.
An international research team led by archaeologist Fanny Bocquentin from the French National Centre for Scientific Research reported on August 12th the discovery of direct evidence indicating that ancient humans in the Beisamoun area of Israel began using cremation as a method of burial at least 7,000 years ago.
“Thanks to the involvement of well-trained anthropologists, we were able to immediately identify the burned human remains, and all attention was focused on excavating the cremation pit,” Bocquentin stated in an email to UPI.
Remains of a cremated bone found in Israel. (Photo: Mission Beisamoun).
The excavation unearthed a total of 355 bone fragments. Advanced imaging analysis revealed that they belonged to a young man who had been injured by a stone projectile a few months prior to his death.
The positioning of the bones indicates that the remains were placed in a seated position within the cremation pit and maintained that position throughout the cremation process. Spectral measurements suggested that temperatures in the pit could reach up to 700°C.
By the beginning of the 7th millennium BCE, people in the Levant region—a vast area in the eastern Mediterranean—had begun to practice agriculture and animal husbandry while still hunting for food. Archaeological evidence suggests that communities in the area at that time were more isolated compared to their ancestors, though some social interactions persisted, such as stone projectiles found in Beisamoun that were imported from Cappadocia, approximately 1,000 km away, according to the research team.
Currently, Beisamoun is the only site where a 9,000-year-old cremation pit has been discovered, but researchers previously found evidence of bone drying—an essential step before cremation—at another site in Jordan. Another excavation in Syria has also revealed similar cremation pits dating back approximately 6,500 years BCE.
“This is certainly not a coincidence. There must be a connection between these communities,” Bocquentin emphasized. “Beisamoun is evidence of a shift in burial practices in the Levant.”
In earlier periods, the deceased were often buried, allowed to decompose, and later exhumed to rearrange the bones. Sometimes, skulls were removed to repaint the faces with lime, after which they were reburied in another grave alongside other skeletons. This process was labor-intensive and time-consuming. The emergence of cremation offered a quicker solution for the decomposition of bodies. Additionally, the remains did not need to be relocated after burial, the researchers explained.
