Re: Cremation/Body Position

George wrote:
<<What I find curious is Kovaleva's contention that the Lower Mykhajlivka
"flexed" inhumations represent an "agricultural"position. As I reported
earlier the Middle Trypilia on the Dnipro (ca.4500-3500 BC) was characterized
by the
presence of both cremation and inhumation burials. There is no doubt as to
the "agricultural" orientation of Middle Trypilia. And yet among its
inhumation
burials one finds BOTH "flexed" and "extended" positions..>>

The tradition of calling the flexed position "agricultural" versus "pastoral"
is directly from Gimbutas's idea of Old Europe burials and really is a bit
out of date. The flexed position is indeed somewhat characteristic of some
western European and LBK neolithic burials and of the early Balkans, so
Gimbutas used it as a supposed signature. But the flexed position is hardly
unique, e.g., as Turetskiy pointed out in his piece, a "characteristic
features of (Yamnaya) funeral custom are... deceased lay on the backs or on
the right side with bend in knees lags..."

As far as cremation goes, thanks, George, for your summary on
Triplinki/Tripolye.

I was also somewhat shocked to learn that both inhumation and "mass cremation
burials" have been found in MESOLITHIC Denmark, that some more western LBK
and Lengyel cemetaries contained as many as a 1/3 cremation graves, that
cremation is a very rare find in the archaeology of the Near East, and that
the Persian tradition (as opposed to the Indic) was very much against
Graeco-Roman cremation. I can't always seem to discriminate between
cremation urn burials and flat-out cremation. I'm still waiting for someone
to reply to a post I sent out about Cucuteni, etc. I don't know how to make
much sense out of all this.

Perhaps cremation was an indigenous European tradition (pace the Indus
valley) that suggests cultural continuity in remaining the funerary practice
of choice of certain early neolithics and for the warriors of the Urnfield,
Classic Greek and Viking traditions and of early Slavic and Germanic-speaking
cultures, but not of "Kurgan", Iranian-speaking tribes or of some Celts,
Thracians or Minoans. But this seems as speculative as any other theory of
how any such burial practices spread and exactly what they meant.

Steve