Simulacra of the ancestors : the Neolithic Package as a reconfiguration of ‘skull cults’

Karamurat, Cansu (author), Atakuman, Çiğdem (author)

The ‘skull cults’ of the Neolithic Near East have long attracted scholarly attention but are often treated as an isolated regional phenomenon. This study explores their deeper origins and broader connections by examining material culture and symbolic practices from c. 150 000 to 8000 BP across Europe and the Near East. Using multifactorial statistical analyses of 32 features covering demography, body treatment, burial contexts, and grave goods from 219 sites, we integrate archaeological, climatic, theoretical, and archaeogenetic data. Results suggest that some traits of the Neolithic Southwest Asian ‘skull cults’ originated in the Middle Palaeolithic, while their defining distinction – primary burials in domestic settings versus secondary burials in public areas – emerged during the Mid-Upper Palaeolithic, notably at Pavlov (Czechia). The diversification of ‘skull cults’ accelerated after the Last Glacial Maximum amid large-scale population movements. In the Early Holocene, as agricultural households developed, these rituals were gradually replaced by new symbolic media such as pottery, figurines, and stamps – the so-called Neolithic Package. These portable ‘simulacra’ redefined representations of the body, house, and community. Although ‘skull cults’ disappeared, their symbolic legacy persisted, transmitted through material proxies that carried shared ideological codes across post-LGM Europe and the Near East.

• Language: English
• Keywords: skull cult, Neolithic Package, Neolithic, Upper Palaeolithic
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 44-68
• Numbering: Vol. 52
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180567
• ISSN on article: 1854-2492
• DOI: 10.4312/dp.52.21
• COBISS.SI-ID: 272587523

Copyright

Podatek o licenci CC BY-SA 4.0 je naveden na pristajalni strani članka (glej zgoraj izvorni URL). (Datum opombe: 11. 3. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 11.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Documenta Praehistorica
• Shortened title: Doc. Praehistor.
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 1854-2492
• COBISS.SI-ID: 220673792

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Simulakri prednikov : neolitski paket kot preoblikovani 'kulti lobanj'

Abstract

Preučevanje ‘kultov lobanj’ na neolitskem Bližnjem vzhodu predstavlja pomembno raziskovalno temo, čeprav se pogosto dojema kot prostorsko omejen pojav. V članku s pomočjo študija materialne kulture in simbolnih praks proučujemo njihov izvor in povezavo v času med c. 150 000 in 8000 leti pred sedanjostjo v Evropi in na Bližnjem Vzhodu. S pomočjo multivariatnih statističnih analiz smo analizirali 32 značilnosti, razvrščenih v 8 kategorij, povezanih z demografskimi podatki, obravnavo teles, pogrebnim kontekstom ter grobnimi pridatki na 219 arheoloških najdiščih. Rezultate smo povezali z arheološkimi, klimatskimi, teoretskimi in arheogenetskimi podatki. Ugotavljamo, da nekatere značilnosti neolitskih kultov lobanj v Jugozahodni Aziji izvirajo iz srednjega paleolitika, medtem ko se ključne razlike – primarni pokopi v bivalnem prostoru v nasprotju s sekundarnimi pokopi na javnem prostoru – pojavijo v sredini mlajšega paleolitika na najdišču Pavlov (Češka). Raznolikost ‘kultov lobanj’ se je po zadnjem glacialnem maksimumu močno povečala zaradi obsežnih selitev prebivalstva. V zgodnjem holocenu so te rituale z razvojem hišnih gospodinjstev postopoma nadomestili novi simbolni mediji, kot so keramika, figurice in pečatniki, t.i. neolitski paket. Ti prenosni 'simulakri' so na novo opredelili predstave o telesu, domu in skupnosti. Čeprav so ‘kulti lobanj’ izginili, se je njihova simbolna dediščina ohranila in prenašala s pomočjo nadomestkov, ki so imeli v obdobju po zadnjem glacialnem maksimumu skupni ideološki kod v Evropi in na Bližnjem vzhodu.

• Keywords: kult lobanj, neolitski paket, neolitik, mlajši paleolitik

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: H2020
• Project number: 772390
• Name: Archaeogenomic analysis of genetic and cultural interactions in Neolithic Anatolian societies
• Acronym: NEOGENE