Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Natufian Human Skeletal Remains From Wadi Hammeh 27 (Jordan), Steve Webb, Phillip C. Edwards

Steve Webb

This report describes skeletal remains from the early Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan. At least seven individuals are represented, and although small, the collection is notable for the eclecticism of its mortuary practice. Modes of mortuary disposal and ritual include a single-primary burial, a collective-secondary burial, burnt human cranial fragments disposed in residential contexts, and the ochre staining of bones. The two burials come from the lowest phase of the site, with fragmentary burials and smaller amounts of material issuing from the upper phases. The primary inhumation is marked by a neighbouring pit, which seems to be …