From fire-induced alterations on human bones to the original circumstances of the fire: An integrated approach of human cremains drawn from a Neolithic collective burial

Results of statistic and spatial analyses shed lights on bone response when subjected to heat, cremains taphonomy and the history of the burial sequence. Cremains' distribution suggests that a highly intense combustion burned the upper part of the assemblage in oxygenated conditions. The fire was probably ignited above the burial sequence, while human remains were still accessible for the community and a few fresh corpses may have fed the fire. In contrast, a lower intensity of combustion and reducing conditions may be reconstructed in the deeper part of the burial, where the corpses were probably all already skeletonized. It points to the presence of two clearly distinct funerary layers within a burial sequence that was finally closed by an intense episode of fire. Opening prospects on the use of fire within Neolithic funerary rites, this study emphasizes the benefits of a careful examination of heating signatures. The applied methodology may have further applications in the physical anthropology (e.g. analysis of ancient cremations or forensic issues) and zooarchaeology (e.g. taphonomic analyses of burned bone assemblages).