Origins of Human Burial Rituals are over 100,000 years old

The origins of human burial rituals are discussed by Patrick Pester in his LiveScience.com article. While there’s no definitive answer, the earliest evidence suggests that deliberate human burials date back to the Middle Paleolithic, around 120,000 years ago. These early burials occurred in caves, such as Qafzeh Cave in Jerusalem, and are marked by human bodies placed in deliberate positions, often with associated cultural items. Burial likely developed as a way to deal with the aversion to decay and its associated issues. The complexity of burial practices evolved over time, with more elaborate burials in Eurasia during the Upper Paleolithic, but mostly plain burials containing everyday objects were common.