13,700-year-old flowers in graves discovered in cave ‘cemetery’
A flower arrangement may soon dry out, but it can certainly leave a lasting impression. Archeologists have discovered what may be the oldest known floral grave lining at an ancient burial site in a cave in Israel, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The flower-lined graves were estimated to be as much as 13,700 years old, according to the international team of researchers that wrote the study. The floral decorations, found in the Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel, were attributed to the Natufians, an eastern Mediterranean culture linked to organized burial sites that might represent some of the earliest ‘cemeteries.
“Grave preparation was a sophisticated planned process, embedded with social and spiritual meanings reflecting a complex preagricultural society undergoing profound changes at the end of the Pleistocene,” according to the paper led by Dani Nadel from the University of Haifa.
The researchers identified some plants based on their shape: By studying the size and angles of branching stems, they were able to identify flowering sprigs of Salvia judaica, or Judean sage. They also found species related to the mint family (known as Labiatae) and the figwort family (a.k.a. Scrophulariaceae). Such plants were very aromatic, imparting their fragrances into the graves.
The graves must have been filled with greens. They held more than twice the amount of phytoliths -- mineral deposits left by plants -- than the surrounding areas.
What’s more, the researchers also found net-like arrangements of stems at right angles in regular intervals lining the graves. And strangely, there were no flint, stone or bone impressions left in the graves, even though there were thousands of these hard, poky objects inside of them.
This probably meant that the graves had been completely lined in greenery, effectively protecting them from the sharp objects within.
“The Natufians lined graves with a soft mud veneer and then placed on the veneer a thick cover of fresh flowering plants, thereby providing color and aromatic fragrance,” the study authors wrote.
Prior cultures from 55,000 to 120,000 years ago seemed to bury their dead with a certain amount of ceremony -- placing selected animal parts on them, for example -- but not in an organized fashion, returning to the same spot over many generations.
“The emergence of Natufian cemeteries ... may represent new and complex social organizations which could have included the establishment or strengthening of special interest groups, inheritance of corporate property, territorial ownerships, and aspects of social organization,” the authors wrote.
