A01_04

Radiocarbon dating of human remains of first farming societies in the Western Alps. Tracking the evolution of Neolithic funerary customs.

Steuri N¹, Milella M², Lösch S², Szidat S^3,4, Hafner A^1,4

¹Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ²Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ³Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ⁴Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Neolithic cist graves – known in the Western Alpine region as Chamblandes type – are usually composed by four lateral stone slabs or more rarely wooden planks, and can contain single, as well as collective burials. Due to the lack of distinctive grave goods, insights about the chronology and evolution of these funerary custom depend on extensive series of precise radiocarbon dates. In the context of our research project, we radiocarbon dated the skeletal remains of 124 individuals from 15 sites, located in western Switzerland, eastern France, and northern Italy. Our data allow doubling the number of modern radiocarbon data available for this burial type. Results suggest an almost contemporaneous emergence of the use of cist burials in the 48th century BCE on the southern shore of Lake Geneva and several Inner-Alpine valleys. The adoption of cist graves seems to spread after 4500 BCE, to be then abandoned around 4000/3800 BCE.

By incorporating different burial features (e.g., treatment of human remains related to burial processes or used grave construction material) into this established chronology, we propose two distinct funerary customs within Western Alpine cist graves: first, alongside the northern Alpine foothills and, second, in the inner-Alpine valleys. In conclusion, our study provides new evidence about the evolution of Neolithic burial practices and intra-Alpine exchange networks based on a large series of radiocarbon dates.