Interpreting funerary variability in the Alsace Plain between 5300 and 4400 BC

Abstract

The funerary practices of the archaeological cultures that settled in the Alsace Plain (eastern France) during the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the regional Middle Neolithic have long been perceived as relatively homogeneous. This view has been challenged since the 1990s, following the identification of regional variability that led to the definition of three funerary ‘facies’. The substantial increase in the number of inhumation burials now calls for a reassessment of this model, integrating newly available data from Alsace, together with evidence from well-preserved sites in neighbouring regions. The results reveal a greater degree of variation than previously recognised and allow the identification of several funerary ‘sub-facies’ within the broader facies already defined. This variability, expressed through body orientation and position, grave-pit layout, and artefacts associated with the deceased, cannot be correlated with biological sex or age at death. Its repeated occurrence within specific areas suggests the existence of social dynamics operating at a distinct scale from that of archaeological cultures, defined through ceramic styles. These patterns, shared by segments of the population, may reflect the persistence of social units rooted in particular territories that expressed forms of belonging through different funerary gestures, while simultaneously sharing a wider Danubian identity. By showing that regional funerary variability frequently transcends chrono-cultural divisions based on ceramic styles and, in some cases, corresponds with differences observed in other domains (e.g. domestic architecture, subsistence strategies), this study contributes to questioning once more the perception of archaeological cultures as coherent social entities.