Why Do Humans Bury Their Dead?

Burial is so common that we rarely ask why we do it. Archaeology gives partial answers. It can show what early people did with their dead, but it cannot tell us exactly what they believed. This article separates the evidence from the interpretation.

What does the oldest evidence look like?

Careful acts of placing the dead in the ground. Aeon describes the first widely accepted intentional burial as the one at Qafzeh Cave in Israel, about 100,000 years ago, where the bodies of 15 early modern humans were placed in the earth alongside 71 pieces of ochre and stone tools. The Max Planck Society adds that burials of Neanderthals and modern humans in Eurasia go back as far as 120,000 years, and include many children.

In Africa, the oldest known burial is a toddler nicknamed Mtoto, about 78,000 years old, from Panga ya Saidi cave in Kenya. Smithsonian Magazine reports that the child was curled into the fetal position in a specially dug, shallow grave.

Does the evidence point to ritual or only practical needs?

Probably more than practical. Smithsonian Magazine says the red ochre at Qafzeh was used to stain tools and may have been used in some kind of burial ritual. Practical reasons, such as protecting a body from animals, are often suggested. But a pit, a posture, and offerings suggest that early people did more than dispose of a body. The Max Planck Society says the Kenyan burial shows that burying the dead was a cultural practice shared by modern humans and Neanderthals.

What is still debated?

Quite a lot. Aeon reports that 10 Neanderthal skeletons found at Shanidar Cave in Iraq seem to have been buried between about 65,000 and 35,000 years ago, and some are said to have been surrounded by flowers. It also describes a controversial 2023 claim that Homo naledi buried its dead as early as 240,000 years ago. The Conversation points out that for the Border Cave infant in South Africa, which Science News dates to between 74,000 and 58,000 years ago, it is hard to say unequivocally that the evidence shows a burial.

Was burial always the practice?

No. The Conversation notes that before about 78,000 years ago, African populations may have treated their dead differently. It describes defleshing and keeping of remains at a site called Herto, and suggests a shift, between about 150,000 and 80,000 years ago, toward burial at sites such as Panga ya Saidi, Taramsa in Egypt (about 69,000 years ago), and Border Cave. Many cultures later chose cremation or other methods; see Mummification and How Cremation Became Accepted.

Why are so many early graves for children?

We do not know for certain. Smithsonian Magazine notes that a high proportion of the surviving graves from this period are children’s, including both of the earliest African burials, and gives no single explanation for the pattern.

What can we conclude?

That burying the dead is very old and probably carried meaning. For the timeline, see When Did Humans Start Having Funerals?, and for how cultures stay connected to the dead, Ancestor Veneration Around the World.