Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – A new study, focusing on the Zvejnieki cemetery in northern Latvia, one of the largest Stone Age burial sites in Europe, has provided invaluable insights into Stone Age life and death traditions. The results showed that stone tools were just as likely to be buried with women and children as with men.

Stone Age tools unearthed in Latvia’s Zvejnieki Cemetery. Image credit: University of York

This discovery challenges the traditional notion that stone tools were exclusively linked to men.

The site, which was in use for over 5,000 years and contains more than 330 graves, has revealed a significant aspect of archaeological study. Previously, stone artifacts found in these burials had not been thoroughly examined. At Zvejnieki and other Stone Age burial sites, such tools were often overlooked as being unremarkable.

This research reveals that these artifacts played a far more significant role in burial rituals than previously thought. Some tools appear to have been intentionally created and then broken as part of funerary rites.

“The site in Latvia has seen numerous investigations of the skeletal remains and other types of grave goods, such as thousands of animal teeth pendants,” said Dr Aimée Little, from the Centre for Artefacts and Materials Analysis, part of the University of York’s Department of Archaeology.

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Why people provided seemingly utilitarian items to the deceased was a crucial aspect that the team wanted to explore deeper.

According to Dr. Little, the research challenges the longstanding stereotype of “Man the Hunter,” a prevalent theme in Stone Age studies. This stereotype has even occasionally influenced how some infants were identified by sex, based on their association with lithic tools.

The study also found women were as likely, or more so than men, to be buried with stone tools.  During this era, women were traditionally expected to fulfill domestic roles.

They were primarily responsible for cooking the animals hunted by men, engaging in various crafts, and caring for the family. This stereotype reflects the societal norms and expectations of that time period.

Children and older adults were the most common recipients of stone artifacts.

“This research demonstrates that we cannot make these gendered assumptions and that lithic grave goods played an important role in the mourning rituals of children and women, as well as men,” added Dr Anda Petrovic, from the University of Belgrade.

There is still a vast amount of knowledge about the lives and deaths of Europe’s earliest communities. This knowledge should be revealed.

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Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer