After examining ceramic jars unearthed in two pits along with human remains, archaeologists in Galera del Slex, Spain, have found evidence of unusual early Neolithic burial practices.

A bone fragment of the ilium of an adult female from the Galleria del Silex cave. (Molina-Almansa et al., Quaternary Science Reviews, 2023)

The discovery highlights the Atapuerca Mountains as an important border for early humans looking to settle in the region by presenting an early example of several Neolithic funerary traditions deep within the interior of the Iberian Peninsula.

According to a team led by Spanish archaeologist Antonio Molina-Almansa from the University of Alcalá, "the new evidence... illustrates that it could have been used as a funeral gallery whose use extended from the Early Neolithic through the Chalcolithic and lasted until the beginning of the Bronze Age."

Few remnants of the grave rites performed by Neolithic "pioneers" in the center of Iberia remain today. There isn't much proof of their procedures for decently disposing of their dead because they regularly moved in small groups.

Communities of the time routinely buried their loved ones in caverns when they passed away throughout what is now France, Portugal, and Andalusia. However, early Neolithic practices among populations who started to settle in one location included burying the deceased in the earth on the Spanish peninsula.

The results of Galera del Slex offer a striking contrast to this method.

The cave, which was discovered in 1972, has wall murals and rock inscriptions as well as strewn ceramic, animal, and human bones.

Because they were each buried at the bottom of two distinct pits that were more than 300 meters (984 ft) from the entrance, the two sets of human remains examined in this study are noteworthy.

The experts state that "Galera del Slex is an extraordinary site" because it was locked off at the end of the Bronze Age and has remained undamaged ever since.

Prior to the discovery of Early Neolithic ceramic vessels among the Bronze Age human remains in the two pits known as Sima A and Sima B, the site's entire population of human remains had been dated to the Bronze Age.

An intriguing adjustment was made by radiocarbon dating of human teeth and bones from four distinct individuals that were discovered in the two sites. The other three human remains were from the early Neolithic period and dated to between 5307 and 4897 BCE, placing them in the early Bronze Age whereas one Sima A's body was undoubtedly alive during the early Bronze Age, sometime between 1880-1690 BCE.

The experts identified one of the early Neolithic people as a young girl between the ages of 13 and 14. Her remains were found in Sima A next to six ceramic jars. The scientists believe that the girl was purposely interred with the vessels as memorial tributes.

According to Molina-Almansa and colleagues, this indicates that the people who lived in the Galera del Slex cave were among the first in the area to develop sophisticated burial customs, as seen by the graves' purposeful location inside the cave and away from the entrance, which appears out of the ordinary for this period.

They note that there are just two known caves in this region that contain Early Neolithic human remains. Human remains found in household settings in both caves "indicate that there was no special place reserved for the burial of their dead," the researchers write.

The fact that the burials were in a different spot implies that there may have been something unique about the location, which should be taken into account as an example of the kinds of areas our more nomadic predecessors would have chosen to create more permanent settlements in.

The distance between the spot where human remains were buried and the ancient cave entrance, they add, "there is no doubt that it was used for funerary purposes."

Galera del Slex's recent investigation offers an insightful look into the early Neolithic inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula.

These people appear to have lived in a sophisticated, complex civilization with a deep culture and set of beliefs.