Recent archaeological studies reveal the importance of birds in prehistoric North-European hunter-fisher-gatherer burial practices. In this article I describe two examples of bird species at prehistoric hunter-gatherer burials: the Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) at the Middle Neolithic Zvejnieki site in northern Latvia, and the osprey (Pandion haliaetus) at the Late Mesolithic Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov site in western Russia. I suggest that the bone finds and their archaeological contexts indicate a prehistoric ideology that can be interpreted as representing totemism and shamanism. The wing bones had a specific function and meaning, probably connected to protection, transformation or transport. The deposition of osprey legs may indicate that the power of this bird was particularly appreciated and re-mobilized in the burial.

Personal ornaments from the sepulchral cave of Groβe Ofnet (Germany): implications for the social organisation of the last Swabian Mesolithic societies.

The Groβe Ofnet head burials have been interpreted as evidence of interpersonal violence within the last Mesolithic societies of Western Europe. This study aims to characterize mobility and territoriality of the last hunter -gatherers in order to understand their social organization. We submit the personal ornaments associated with the head burial to taphonomic, archaeozoological, technological, morphometric, and functional analyses in the aim to document the variability in raw material procurement, bead manufacture, length of use, and mortuary practices. Our results indicate complex acquisition patterns of the ornaments, including multidirectional exchange networks. Homogeneity in the bead manufacture suggests contacts between contemporaneous groups that shared the same technical traditions. Distributions of ornaments associated with each skull and use-wear patterns indicate an intergenerational transmission of the beads. We conclude that the last Swabian Mesolithic groups maintained active networks by perpetuating exchanges across large areas. Previous works have interpreted hostile intergroup relationship as evidence of a decrease in their mobility. Our results highlight that, in the case of Ofnet, such a reduction in mobility can be largely counterbalanced by the perpetuation of large scale exchange networks.

Animal remains have been excavated in many Mesolithic burials. A large variety of skeletal and body parts (e.g. antlers, claws, hoofs, horns, long bones, mandibles, paws, skulls, tails and vertebrae) from different mammals were interred with the deceased. In addition, beaks, wings and long bones from birds, as well as teeth and lower jaws of fish were found. Vertebrae of snakes, carapaces of pond turtles and femora of amphibians, as well as opened and unopened mollusc shells were likewise included in burial inventories. On occasion, complete animals (dogs — Canis familiaris —, pigs, fawn, fish) or a fish soup were placed with the dead or in pits next to the grave. Animal finds could have been remains of sacrificial food offerings to the dead, raw material for items in the afterlife or left-overs from the funeral feast. Animal teeth, mollusc shells and, occasionally, vertebrae of fish were used in jewellery and to decorate clothing. Certain bones or body parts may have been amulets or items with a special ritual meaning. Mandibles of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) were deposited in ritual fire places above the graves. Antlers could have been used in the burial structure and possibly also as part of shamans' masks. The largest variety of items was found in cemeteries. Animal remains were more frequently excavated from double and group burials, than from single graves. The aim of this paper is to summarize the data of more than 200 burial sites and discuss the possible function of animal remains in Mesolithic burials.

Ranging from the valves of exotic marine shells (Spondylus) to anthropomorphic figurines fashioned on metapodials, and from carnivore tooth beads to the deposition of partial carcasses, the representation of fauna in the graves of the early Neolithic in northern France and in the upper Rhine valley takes very diverse forms. This contribution focuses on those remains which can be associated with the practice of food deposits in order to better define the modalities of this type of such finds (choice of species and body parts, preparation, arrangement and position in the grave), understand their meaning and outline their characteristics in relation to other categories of animal bone items (ornaments, tools…) which form part of the grave assemblage.

During the past decade, many archaeological interventions in southern Portugal have revealed a different panorama funerary practices dating from the 4th to the 2nd millennium BC. Besides the architectural specificities, contexts revealing associations of animal and human remains are multiplying. So far the available data reveal a preference for the deposition of domestic animals, on one hand; and for the deposition of animal parts rather than complete animals, on the other. The majority of the archaeological contexts under study revealed a preference for the deposition of articulated paws, isolated limb bones or even articulated animal parts, where the limbs are always present. The traditional explanations for such occurrences of animals in tombs are that they are the product of rituals of commensality. According to the anatomical representations and other contextual characteristics (e.g. direct associations of some animal bones with specific human bones, taphonomic history of the faunal collections), another interpretation is proposed. This approach is strongly guided by a new framework based on the understanding of Human/Animal relationships, where a bone or an anatomical part can be representative of a specific animal.

Among its many features of strictly domestic nature, the ditched enclosure site of Camino de las Yeseras incorporates a series of singular faunal deposits that do not seem to represent consumption refuse. These deposits that appear in strategic places of the site often feature very biased representations of the animals' skeletons . In addition, considerable time and effort appears to have been put into the correct placement of these remains. In one instance this meant covering with red ochre the bones themselves. Combined, these lines of evidence reveal a treatment of the carcasses that goes well beyond what one would attribute to utilitarian slaughtering and consumption, pointing instead to some kind of ritual. Some features of this presumably ritual processing exhibit parallels with other regions of Spain, but the sheer faunal diversity recorded in this case renders Camino de las Yeseras an exceptional case in the Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula.

Middle Nubian Horizon faunal material has rarely been the main focus of study, both in relation to the daily consumption of animals as well as the symbolic and ritualised use of fauna in a burial context. Owing to the excavation history of the area, the data available in the archaeological literature is often based on other sources than actual excavated faunal material. This article presents an interpretation based on an analysis of five Pan-grave cemeteries excavated by the Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia (SJE) in 1961–64, focusing on the large SJE 47 cemetery. The results reveal a consistent tradition of faunal deposit practices and the existence of two distinct types of deposits varying in both context and content. The most characteristic evidence is the large number of cut and painted skulls of goat (Capra hircus), sheep (Ovis aries) and cattle (Bos taurus), deposited in circular ditches around the graves. Through the use of ethnographic analogies and an in-depth analysis of these Pan-grave faunal remains the aim is to position this evidence in a wider context of ritual practices and cultural consumption.

There is a long history of animal burials, both ritual and pet, in Egypt. Among the many animals buried in Egypt, dogs are amongst the most commonly found. In the cases of ritual (votive) deposits, the dogs (Canis lupus familaris) are buried in groups together, far from any human remains. A handful of pet burials indicate that dogs were buried near their owners. However, recent excavations in the Fayum and Baharia Oases have yielded a hitherto unknown type of deposit, containing both dog and human remains. This paper will explore, in a preliminary study, the phenomenon of joint human and canid burials in Graeco-Roman Egypt and try to understand the precise meaning and nature of these assemblages.

The discovery of a Pazyryk frozen prince's tomb in Berel'(Altaï, Kazakhstan) led to the unearthing of a funerary chamber enclosing two human bodies and thirteen horse bodies. The horses were buried harnessed beside the humans and some of them were wearing masks and two fake ibex horns in gold-painted wood. Meticulous excavation and the study of the resulted in a description of the animals and revealed the importance of their position in the tomb — as well as the selection criteria that led to their sacrifice.

The “Cruz del Negro” necropolis in Carmona (Seville) is part of an archaeological site considered by some authors to be a Phoenician settlement. Findings from the paleobiological and taphonomic study conducted on the grave goods found in 38 funerary structures provide possible evidence to support this theory (along with other archaeological objects found there). Analysis of the animal remains found indicates three kinds of grave goods according to the animal species and anatomical parts offered, and points to a series of markers observed in other older sites located in the Mediterranean Basin which indicate the possible eastern origin of the funerary rituals practiced in “Cruz del Negro”. Of the 602 remains analysed, this study highlights the presence of 307 caprine (Caprinae) knucklebones in 15 of the 38 structures studied. Most of them are thermo-altered and highly polished, a practice originally found in Bronze Age sites in the Near East.

The presence of animal bones in human graves may often represent the ritual deposition of alimentary offerings for the dead. In fact, several ancient cultures believed in the perpetuation of earthly life activities and necessities in the afterlife. This essay presents the methodological aspects and the results of the archaeozoological analyses carried out on the 39 graves examined so far in the Etruscan-Celtic necropolis of Monterenzio Vecchio (Bologna, Northern Italy). The study of the animal bone remains points to a very high standardization of meat offering preparatory practices and their presentation inside the graves. The meat portions were always composed of a few adjoining ribs from a single young porker (Sus domesticus). The distribution of the bone remains and the lack of manifest stripping traces on the surface, in spite of evidence for meat cooking, exclude any possible interpretation of these findings as refuse from a hypothetical funerary banquet. The spatial and functional correlation between data from faunal and taphonomic analyses, the burial features and grave goods denote obvious symbolic connotations related to funerary rituals. The generalized presence in the Monterenzio Vecchio graves of highly standardized alimentary offerings, generally placed in funerary pottery, seems to demonstrate the existence of a well-defined “food of the dead”.

In this paper, zooarchaeological evidence from Roman Iron Age (c. 1–375 AD) inhumation graves with focus on the avian remains is presented. The material comprises both old and recently excavated material mainly from wealthy burial sites in eastern Denmark. Birds occur rarely as grave gifts in Danish inhumation graves. In total six graves provided bird remains with three holding parts of or entire goose (Anser anser) skeletons and three yielding domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Both bird species were offered as food for the deceased as evidenced by cut marks and by the arrangements of the birds in pottery vessels or their location associated with other food offers like meaty portions of pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) and sheep (Ovis aries). Morphometric and contextual analyses indicated that the geese were domesticated geese. All graves with goose were princely graves, containing Roman imports and other animals offered, such as entire, but butchered lambs or pigs but also dogs (Canis familiaris). In two cases, the deceased were soldiers of a relatively high military rank within the cavalry. The geese therefore are considered to have had a dual function and were offered both for culinary and symbolic reasons as guards for the deceased. The domestic chicken occurred in a woman's grave and in men's graves and was considered, like the domestic goose, to have been relatively rare during the Danish Roman Iron Age.s

The knuckle-bone has always had both a ritual function linked to the practice of divination and a profane use as a gaming piece for infants and adults. Knuckle bones from different animal species can be used, but sheep and goat (Ovis and Capra)and pig (Sus domesticus) generally prevail. These bones are small and can easily be handled together. Groups of worked and non-modified knucklebones have been discovered in several archaeological contexts in Italy. The most important evidence for the funerary use of these bones in Italy is undoubtedly represented by the thousands of knuckle-bones discovered in the cemetery of Locri Epizefiri, dated to the Hellenistic period. In recent times, large amounts of worked and non-modified knuckle-bones have been brought to light in the cemeteries of Le Grotte near Populonia (4^th-3^rd c. BC) and Poggio Picenze in Abruzzi (3^rd-2^nd c. BC). The zooarchaeological analysis of these samples and their comparison with other evidence can contribute to our understanding of several aspects of the ancient use of the knuckle-bone, such as the choice of the animal, different kinds of modifications, the modalities and significance of types of depositional features.

Animal bones from funeral contexts of two sites in Roman Switzerland, the legionary camp Vindonissa and the capital city Aventicum, are compared. Burning of meat offerings existed in both sites, but the burial of complete or partial animals is only documented in Aventicum. Apparently the method of deposition was dependent on the social and ethnic affiliation of the deceased, as well as the function of the settlement to which the graves belonged.

The Roman cemetery of Halbturn (Burgenland, Austria) was completely excavated in the years 1988-2002. Associated with a small agricultural settlement nearby, it covers an area of about 7,000 m² and was used as a burial site from the 2^nd to the 5^th c. AD. An analysis of features and artefacts indicated a diachronic change of burial practices, from a dominance of cremation at the beginning to-wards inhumation graves during the later phases. The spatial and chronological development is complicated by a pattern of re-use of earlier structures, abandonment, and expansion into areas originally designed for other purposes. The cemetery itself is integrated into an orthogonal system of field ditches, which eventually continue into the cemetery and delimit grave groups. A small part of the 23,500 animal bones (NISP ca 6,000) can be interpreted as grave goods or ritually deposited skeletons. The vast majority of the animal remains results from field ditches, pits and grave ditches. These assemblages are dominated by remains of cattle (Bos taurus), equids (Equidae sp.) and dogs (Canis familaris) and indicate little manipulation. They correspond to a pattern of carcass disposal frequently observed at the periphery of rural settlements. The interpretation of the animal bones from the grave areas remains controversial, as the pottery may be indicative of ritual meals, whereas the bone record does not differ much from the situation in field ditches. The opportunistic disposal of carcasses and other rubbish in the course of earth works appears as the main agent responsible for the accumulation of animal bones within the cemetery area.

Animal remains in early medieval graves in Alsace and fringe areas.

The recent archaeological excavations in Alsace (France) and on the left bank of the upper Rhine show the importance of the man-animal relations in the Merovingian funerary world. Their results require a regional archeozoologic synthesis. The typology of the faunal remains is very diverse: animal amulets, Associated Bone Groups, food offerings. The funerary groups delivering of the faunal vestiges are listed here in an exhaustive way and their data are sometimes re-examined. The animal amulets call upon the wild species and more frequently relate to the female tombs and the tombs of children. The geographical origins of these artifacts testify to the practice of remote commercial bonds at Merovingian. The area of the upper Rhine delivers some dogs' Associated Bone Groups, equids, cervids, which constitute the specimens among the southernmost known for the time in Europe. The frequency of the animal offering in Alsace is often quite higher than what is observed elsewhere in Merovingian Gaul, since approximately 24% of the 469 studied tombs contain at least one animal food offering. For the early Middle Age, the animal offerings belong exclusively to domestic species, whose respective proportions significantly vary from one funerary group to another. However the pig (Sus domesticus), the hen (Gallusgallus domesticus) and the eggs constitute the main part of the deposits. The analysis of the faunal remains in funerary context highlights habits in early Middle Age, often in relationship with the place of the deceased in the society and with their membership of the Germanic cultural sphere. The decoding of those funeral gestures is totally indivisible from the interdisciplinarity of research.

Across the Caribbean, the widespread presence of canine remains at archaeological sites from the Salado id period raises questions about the role of “man's best friend.” Dog (Canis familiaris) remains have been found located in both refuse middens and burials adjacent to human graves in a number of sites in the French Antilles and Barbuda, West Indies. This paper will critically examine dog remains and discuss the varied duality of the dog's role in the Saladoid world: from food source to lifelong companion. The importance of dogs within Amerindian sites from Saint Martin, the Guadeloupe archipelago, Martinique and Barbuda will be explored from a zooarchaeological perspective, concluding with a critical discussion of changes in cultural patterns, as seen through the decline in dog remains during the Troumassoid and Suazoid period at the sites in the French Antilles.

In 2004 the Moon Pyramid Project uncovered Burial 6, a massive offering cache at the core of the monument located at Teotihuacan's central ceremonial precinct. This dedicatory chamber included the remains of over fifty animals, the majority representing the most dangerous carnivores on the landscape such as eagles, felines (jaguars and pumas), canines (wolves, coyotes and hybrids between wolves and dogs) and rattlesnake. Faced with this extraordinary faunal assemblage, we investigate the dynamic ritual processes which took place during the dedication ceremony. We reconstruct not only the chaîne opératoire, the acquisition, preparation, use and deposition of each animal, but also attempt to recreate individual life histories of some of the animals deposited in this burial. This type of analysis allows us to appreciate and understand the truly complex types of interactions the Teotihuacanos had with these highly symbolic animals; including the practice of animal management and captivity within the urban center. This study demonstrates the heterogeneity of the animal population interred in the offering chamber, which involved both wild and tamed animals sacrificed alive as well as faunal products manipulated and prepared extensively prior to their deposition. Such a reconstruction of the ritual processes prompts us to question the significance of such a deposit within the context of the arising metropolis at Teotihuacan.

Amphisbaenids or “two-headed snakes” funerary deposits in the Uhle Platform, Huacas de Moche, Peru.

Fourteen animal species have been identified in Mochica tombs (100–800 A.D.). Among them the discovery of amphisbaenids, a group of reptiles known in South America as “culebras de dos cabezas” (two-headed snakes), stands as a new fact. Rests of Amphisbaena sp., in particular A. occidentalis, the only species actually present in this area, were found in five tombs of the Uhle's Platform at Huacas de Moche site. This constitutes the first occurrence of these reptiles in Precolumbian archaeological sites from the western slope of the Andean Cordillera. The amphisbaenids were discovered in jars sitting by the side of the dead, indicating that they were intentional deposits and not intrusive vestiges. Amphisbaenids offerings are also known in North-West Argentina, in the Ciénaga culture (2000–1400 BP), and during the periods of Regional Development, Inca and Hispano-Natives (800–250 BP). This kind of offerings thus does not constitute an isolated cultural phenomenon, but should clearly be regarded within a wider temporal and space context. The Mochica iconographic register brings additional details and seems to indicate that these animals could have a link with death and sacrifice, but also with the Milky Way. The discovery of these taxa brings new data for understanding their ritual role and symbolic function in Mochica culture tombs.