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12,000-year-old Göbeklitepe burials explain scattered bones

172 points · 55 comments · yusufaytas

  1. MadrasTh0rn · · focus · HN ↗
    Was subfloor burial common in Neolithic?
    1. treis · · focus · HN ↗
      Seems like you'd quickly run out of floor and/or end up with a lot of bodies in one place. And are you chipping up your plaster floor every time someone dies? I'm pretty skeptical that this makes sense as a practice. Seems far more likely that a building was built over a forgotten grave.
      1. AlotOfReading · · focus · HN ↗
        We know of many, many cultures that have buried remains under house floors as ritual practice. Sometimes our "common sense" isn't a reliable guide to distant cultures.
        1. wongarsu · · focus · HN ↗
          Including many Christian churches. Though there it is limited to people of particular importance to the church, faith or public community because of the practical concerns mentioned above. A lot of churches are many centuries old, and having a couple bodies buried under the floor over that time seems not that uncommon (at least in Europe)
          1. treis · · focus · HN ↗
            We don't bury everyone under churches, however as we would quickly run out of room.
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