Aesthetics of Death in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic of Italy. The Evolution of Grave goods

Abstract

This paper presents an updated panorama of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic burials in Italy, with references to the trend known for the European area. The entire repertoire is divided into two macroblocks, the Gravettian and the Epigravettian. The Gravettian burials are characterized by a certain variability (number of deceased, decubitus) and at the same time by a marked homogeneity relating to the richness of the grave goods, with a strong aesthetic-emotional value. The funerary ritual seems aimed at maintaining the identity of the deceased through the originality of the grave goods and personal ornaments. The second block of burials refers to the Final Epigravettian, in the last millennia of the Pleistocene. The funerary practice maintains some traditional characteristics but the ideology has changed: the burials are very sober and the grave goods are very poor or absent (with the exception of Liguria). In the chronological range of approximately 20-13,000 BP, only one burial (Romito 9) is currently known, dating to the Evolved Epigravettian, which is still influenced by the Gravettian tradition. The Mesolithic culture of death accentuates the Epigravettian character of sobriety. In the chrono-cultural complex examined, the ritual procedures identify some micro-regions which, albeit with a cosmopolitan inspiration, take on original features.