Well-preserved findings in burial cave from Natufian era 12,000 years ago shed light on surprisingly complex funereal rituals. A human foot and 86 tortoise shells were just some of the extraordinary finds discovered in the prehistoric grave of a female shaman in the Galilee, in northern Israel, dating back some 12,000 years.
Also found in what archaeologists suspect was the burial site of a female shaman, who was living in a hunter-gatherer society, were an eagle’s wing, a leopard’s pelvic bone, the leg of a pig, and tailbone from a cow, and much more.
The unique features of the woman’s interment have shed new light on human society during the late Natufian era (10,800-9,500 B.C.E.), and on how the ancients treated the dead, according to the archaeological team led by Prof. Leore Grosman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Natalie Munro of Connecticut University. The revelations have allowed the team to speculatively reenact the woman’s funerary ceremony.
Recovery of the well-preserved grave of this unusual woman, and the generally high quality of preservation in the cave unearthed at this Galilee site, called Hilazon Tachtit (Lower Hilazon River), enable identification of the multiple stages of a funereal ceremony. They constitute evidence of a number of activities related to ritual performances, as well as leading to broader generalizations about Natufian practices during a dynamic era preceding the transition to agricultural society.
As for the shaman herself – if that is indeed what she was – in reaching age 45, she had lived a relatively long life for people of that era. She was very short, practically a dwarf, and also suffered from a variety of diseases and distortions that must have made her look quite unusual.
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