Mortuary Practices in Neolithic Central Asia: New Evidence from the Zardali Site, Uzbekistan

Abstrakt

The Neolithic period was accompanied by fundamental changes in the lifestyles, subsistence strategies, social structures, and belief systems of human societies. One of the most important reflections of these developments can be observed in burial rituals and behaviors related to death. Archaeological excavations at the Zardali Neolithic site in Uzbekistan have led to the identification of Neolithic cultural layers and a human burial, which has become the main subject of this research due to its importance in the study of the prehistory of Central Asia. The aim of this research is to introduce the Zardali site and examine the characteristics of mortuary practices and death-related rituals in the late Neolithic period of Central Asia. The excavations revealed a human burial in a simple pit grave lacking funerary architecture, in which the skeleton was buried in a flexed position on the left side. Comparing the Zardali burial with other Neolithic burials in Central Asia shows that this burial is more similar to the burial tradition of the Hissar culture in terms of body position, simplicity of the grave, and lack of grave goods. Direct dating of this burial helps refine the chronological framework of Neolithic burials in Central Asia and allows for a more detailed examination of the chronology and variability of burial traditions in the region. The results of this study also indicate that differences in burial rituals were likely related to differences in subsistence strategies, social organization, and environmental conditions of Neolithic societies in the region; such that the agricultural communities of Jeitun, the mountain and intermontane communities of the Hissar Culture, and the groups associated with the riverine and wetland environments of Kelteminar each developed different mortuary traditions.