Headless — Alles bleibt anders

Burials in cemeteries, which are similar to today’s burials in graveyards, already took place 7000 years ago. The difference is that in those days people dealt with their deceased in very different ways. This was the case at a Neolithic settlement site in Vráble, Slovakia. Many people were buried there without heads and close to the occupied houses. From today’s perspective, this seems very strange. But back then people dealt with death in a different manner. In the CRC 1266, we investigate together with our Slovakian partners how the settlement and burial methods of the earliest farmers changed in Central Europe.

Neighbourhood disputes?

Around 5200 BCE, three settlements of the earlier Linear Pottery Culture were established in direct proximity to each other, on the fertile loess soils near the Žitava River in the southwest of present-day Slovakia. In the almost 300 years of settlement history, 313 houses were built. The highest population density was around 5110 BCE. Only about 40 years later, the inhabitants built a ditch with palisades around one of the settlements and thus separated themselves from the two others - so far, one can only speculate why they did it. Perhaps the close coexistence led to tensions that increased the need for isolation. The digging of such a ditch was a demanding task at that time, which was carried out by a group of people, and thus expresses a collective spirit.

If the dead could speak

But the ditch holds even more mysteries. During the excavations, we were repeatedly surprised to find human remains. People were especially buried at the entrances to the settlement. Only a few of them were buried in a crouched position together with grave goods, which is a practice we know from cemeteries of this time. Most bodies were buried in unusual positions and often in pairs. Very unusual was the fact that many of the buried had their heads removed. Beyond all imagination was a mass grave in which 37 individuals lay in various positions: on top of each other, side by side, stretched out in a prone position, crouched on their sides, on their backs with their limbs splayed out, and almost all without heads. How did this happen? Were they criminals? Human sacrifices? Enemies from other settlements? Is it simply an unusual burial rite? - And what happened to the skulls?

“Traditional” burial in a so-called crouched position with grave goods.
“Irregular” burial in a supine position, headless and without grave goods.
Mass grave with 37 headless people, discovered in the summer of 2022.

Spondylus – a widely travelled burial good

Pendants made of spondylus (Spondylus gaederopus), a type of shell from the Mediterranean Sea, were very widely used in the Linear Pottery period. In large parts of southern and south-eastern Europe, such shells were mainly found during excavations in settlements. In Central Europe, it is found in burials of the Linear Pottery Culture. It reached as far as northern Poland, Central Germany and the Paris Basin. Its widespread use shows that during the sixth millennium BCE, people had extensive and complex contacts and exchange systems, and all this without smartphones and the internet.

Spondylus pendant from one of the traditional burials in Vráble.
Distribution of the spondylus shell in the sixth millennium BCE.

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Excursion

The history of the discovery of Vráble
Archaeologists are often asked: hasn't everything already been found? Where will you find something new? And how do you know where to look?
It is obvious that not everything has been found. According to estimates, 90 percent of all archaeological finds still lie undiscovered in the ground.
Southwest Slovakia has long been known among archaeologists for its high density of prehistoric finds. For this reason, it has been extensively researched for quite some time. It was therefore astonishing that the three large settlements in Vráble were only found in 2010 - and only by pure chance.
Almost opposite the Neolithic settlements, a Bronze Age settlement has been investigated for some time. During a magnetic survey, the scientists decided to take a small detour to the adjacent field. They were amazed when the magnetic measurements first showed a few houses and then the three settlements that are now known under the name of Vráble.
This small detour to the adjacent field resulted in a large archaeological project in which dozens of international researchers and young scientists have been involved for eleven years.

Excursion

Regionalisation
A round-bottomed jar, a ceramic vessel decorated with a pattern of lines, from Vráble.

Around 5500 BCE, the first farmers settled in Central Europe. Because of their pottery ornamented with pairs of parallel lines, archaeologists refer to them as the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK). Only 200 years after its first appearance, this culture reached its greatest expansion: from the Paris Basin to the Ukraine.
A skull with healed injury found in Vráble.

In the initial phase, pottery, stone tools, house construction and settlement patterns are quite uniform in this large area. But as time goes by, regional features can increasingly be identified. Outbreaks of violence, which we discover in the form of mass graves and many fatal injuries, became more frequent.
New rituals emerged. They were often associated with the bodies of the deceased being moved long after their death and sometimes transported over long distances. During this process, the skeletons were often anatomically sorted or deliberately destroyed and buried in graves, earth pits, rubbish pits or elongated pits.
In the Middle Neolithic (4900-4400 BCE), there was a peak in regionalisation. In south-west Slovakia we now encounter the Lengyel Culture. These people are known to have built large rondels, i.e. mighty circular ditched and palisaded enclosures that were located close to settlements and usually had no buildings inside.
We can see the emergence of the idea for such enclosures in Vráble. At this site, however, they were used to enclose a part of the settlement. Moreover, there are lots of headless skeletons here - a special ritual for the dead. In Vráble, we thus observe the beginning of an important process: the end of the Linear Pottery Culture and the emergence of the Lengyel Culture.

1. The settlement in Vráble began around 5270 BCE. Researchers from Kiel have developed a new method to date the house structures in Vráble on the basis of their orientation.
(5,190 BCE) When building new houses, people oriented themselves on the old buildings. However, humans are not machines: from time to time we deviate from the target by a few degrees, tending to the left.
(5110 BCE) This effect adds up over the generations and is called pseudoneglect. On the basis of the angle (here 16°) a large number of houses can be allocated to the phase 5110 BCE.
(5070 BCE). We assume that a house generation existed for c. 40 years. If the deviation amounts to 4° in each generation, a deviation of 20° (from 32° to 12°) will have occurred after 5 generations.
(4990 BCE) In the last settlement phase of Vráble around 4990 BCE there are individual houses with a rotation of less than 8°.
Reconstruction of a LBK house. It is already very similar to modern buildings.

Magic in prehistory?

We will never be able to fully clarify what motivated these people to cut off the heads. However, we can make assumptions based on certain indications. Firstly, the formerly uniform burial rite became more diverse in this period and secondly, this happened alongside regionalisation. This suggests that the sense of belonging to a small group became more important to these people. Such a group identity included common rituals that united the group. These rituals may explain the headless skeletons in Vráble: the removal of the head was part of a special burial rite that followed certain rules. Such rituals and other actions performed in a regulated way are regarded as attempts by humans to intervene in natural processes. We pray or make sacrifices for better times, the averting of diseases and bad harvests. Like a kind of applied magic to influence things that cannot be controlled.

Drawing of a ritually deposited obsidian core.
Vessels very seldom have applied decorations. The motif shown here has no parallels so far.
The three settlements in Vráble.
Reconstruction of the burial rite.
Reconstruction of the burials in the ditches.
Reconstruction of the burials in the ditches.
Reconstruction of the burials in the ditches.

Excavation

Common excavation tools range from diggers to paintbrushes. But sometimes the archaeologists also use a vacuum cleaner.
For the photo documentation, everything should appear in the same light. The best way to avoid shadows cast by the sun is to use large tarpaulins.
The ditch with the burials. In the background, its outer lines can be seen in the section. In front of it are two buried headless individuals.
Drawings and allocation of the finds from the longitudinal pits of a house.
Drawings and allocation of the finds from the longitudinal pits of a house.
Don't step on it! When excavating between the skeletons, balance and a delicate touch are required.

Magic today?

Magic and superstition

Superstition or different ideas about higher beings or supernatural powers have been widespread throughout the ages. In the Neolithic period, people also tried to influence their existence with rituals or magic - and we still do it today: in everyday life, we have many rituals that are supposed to bring good luck or ward off bad luck. We cross our fingers or throw coins over our shoulder or into wells. We knock on wood and make a wish when blowing out a candle or spotting a meteorite. We open the window of the death chamber. Even though we are separated by almost 7000 years, we all have much in common with the people of the Neolithic Age.

Martin Furholt researches socio-archaeological issues at the Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology at Kiel University. He has been excavating in south-west Slovakia every year since 2012, and he is particularly interested in the exchange between international students. Even though he has already been excavating in south-west Slovakia for more than 10 years, it never gets boring for him. There are always surprises, as shown by the mass grave discovered in the summer of 2022.

Text, images and content by Sebastian Schultrich

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Neighbourhood disputes?

If the dead could speak

Spondylus – a widely travelled burial good

TraDitIoNaL
buRiAl

Excursion

Excursion

Magic in prehistory?

Excavation

Magic today?

Magic and superstition

Tags

Module

Neighbourhood disputes?

If the dead could speak

Spondylus – a widely travelled burial good

TraDitIoNaL buRiAl

Excursion

Excursion

Magic in prehistory?

Excavation

Magic today?

Magic and superstition

Tags

TraDitIoNaL
buRiAl