From the Sunghir Children to the Romito Dwarf

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Figure 1. The double child burial from Sunghir (Russia), showing the long spears and the variety of grave goods. The pathological skeleton (Sunghir 3) is on the right. of experimental work, White (2003) suggests that each of the ivory beads took more than an hour to make. This implies an enormous amount of work, considering that the ornamentation of each of the children includes about 5,000 beads (White 1995), not to mention the other ivory objects. Evidently the burial was perceived as very important by the Sunghir people. Analysing funerary treatment in modern hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists, Binford (1971) finds differences based on sex and age and, more generally, on the personal qualities of the dead. Among those populations, a rich burial is an expression of high status, acquired because of the ability to perform activities important for the survival of the group. It is hard to imagine this kind of motivation for two children. Moreover, child burials are infrequent during the Gravettian, as is pointed out by Zilhão and Trinkaus (2002) and Zilhão (2005) and shown in table 1. (This table differs from that reported by these authors because it includes only remains from “formal burials”—excluding isolated or scattered bones, the skeletons from Cussac found on the surface of the deposit [Aujoulat et al. 2002], and the remains from Predmostí [Klíma 1991; Oliva 2001; Svoboda 2005a] and from the Cro-Magnon site [Henry-Gambier 2002], whose burial condition cannot be ascertained.) On the basis of labor investment, ritual activity and variety, and number of decorative objects, it has been hypothesized that status differentiation existed among early Upper Paleolithic people from the Russian Plain (Soffer 1985; White 2003). The issue of the level of social complexity reached by these populations emerges again when looking at the large Gravettian open-air site of Dolní Věstonice in Moravia. Here, three young individuals, their ages ranging from 16 to 25 years (Vlček 1991; Hillson et al. 2005), were found in a common grave in unusual positions: one face down and another on its side with hands reaching the pubic region of the skeleton in the middle (fig. 2). While there is general agreement that the individuals on the sides are males, the skeleton in 447 the middle is difficult to sex because of pelvic deformation. As a result, it has been variably diagnosed as female or male (e.g., Vlček 1991; Bru˚ zek et al. 2005). The uncalibrated 14C date obtained from charcoal associated with the skeletons points to an age of 26,640 110 BP (Svoboda 1995). Ornamentation includes pierced carnivore canines, ivory pendants, and powdered ocher around the skull. The skeleton in the middle also has ocher in the pelvic area (Klíma 1987; Svoboda 2005b). On the basis of the size of the Moravian living sites, technological innovations (e.g., kilns for clay figurines), richness of material culture, and elaborate funerary behavior, Jelínek (1987, 1991) argues that the social organization of those populations was well beyond the band level. An additional interesting aspect of the triple burial is the pathological condition of the skeleton in the middle. This individual (Dolní Věstonice 15) shows asymmetric shortening of the femur, bowing of the femur, humerus, and radius, and elongation of the fibulae, possibly resulting from a rare inherited disorder (chondrodysplasia calcificans punctata) complicated by trauma (Formicola, Pontrandolfi, and Svoboda 2001). This diagnosis would imply that this specimen is female, because males do not survive the disorder into adulthood. Trinkaus et al. (2005) disagree, suggesting an unidentifiable systemic dysplasia that leaves the ultimate diagnosis open. The combination of a pathological condition apparent since birth with a spectacular multiple burial of young individuals recalls the contemporary child burial of Sunghir. Multiple burials are probably absent in the Middle Paleolithic (May 1986; Zilhão and Trinkaus 2002)—the only possible exception being the burial of Qafzeh 9 and 10 (Vandermeersch 1981)— but become very frequent during the Gravettian (table 1). Interestingly, the only evidence of this practice in the European Late Upper Paleolithic is in Italy, where the Gravettian continues into the Epigravettian (Bietti 1990; Mussi 2001) (table 2). Among the five Epigravettian double burials from Italy, the
Table 1. Composition of European Gravettian Burials Specimen Burial Age Sex Single Multiple Child Adolescent Adult Male Female Unsexed Sunghir 1 x – – – x x – – Sunghir 2 and 3 – double S 3 S 2 – S 2 S 3 – Kostenki 2 x – – – x x – – Kostenki 3 x – x – – – – x Kostenki 4 x – x – – – – x Brno 2 x – – – x x – – Dolní Věstonice 3 x – – – x – x – Dolní Věstonice 13, 14, and 15 – triple – DV 13 DV 14 and 15 DV 13 and 14 x DV 15 Dolní Věstonice 16 x – – – x x – – Pavlov 1 x – – – x x – – Prˇedmostí 27 x – – – x – – x Krems–Wachtberg – double xx – – – – xx Grotta delle Veneri (Parabita) 1 and 2 – double – – xx GV 1 GV 2 – Ostuni (S. Maria di Agnono) 1 x – – – x – x – Ostuni (S. Maria di Agnano) 2 x – – – x – – x Paglicci 12 x – – x – x – – Paglicci 25 x – – – x – x – Arene Candide 1 x – – x – x – – Bausu da Ture 1 x – – – x x – – Bausu da Ture 2 x – – – x x – – Bausu da Ture 3 x – – x – – – x Barma Grande 1 x – – – x x – – Barma Grande 2, 3, and 4 – triple – BG 3 and 4 BG 2 BG 2 BG 3 and 4 – Barma Grande 5 x – – – x x – – Barma Grande 6 x – – – x x – – Caviglione 1 x – – – x – x – Grotte des Enfants 4 x – – – x x – – Grotte des Enfants 5 and 6 – double – GE 6 GE 5 GE 6? GE 5 – Paviland 1 x – – – x x – – Lagar Velho 1 x – x – – – – x Note: Specimens are listed by geographic location from north-east to south-west and are numbered according to Oakley, Campbell, and Molleson (1971) and, for the Italian remains, Alciati, Pesce Delfino, and Vacca (2005). 448 Current Anthropology Volume 48, Number 3, June 2007
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Page 5 and 6: Table 2. Composition of Epigravetti
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From the Sunghir Children to the Romito Dwarf

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