New Insights into the Paleolithic Chronology and Funerary Ritual of Caverna delle Arene Candide

This paper presents preliminary results of renewed field research conducted at Caverna delle Arene Candide, with a specific focus on the implications of these new field observations for our understanding of the heretofore underappreciated richness of the funerary ritual of the cave’s Epigravettian occupants. The paper begins with a review of the work undertaken at the site during the 2008-13 field program. Specific attention is given to the chronology and site formation history of the cave’s Pleistocene deposits. These new data definitively confirm the Gravettian age of the burial known as the “Young Prince” and have implications for the age of Level P1, which is shown to date to ca. 15-15.5 ky BP. Additionally, the oldest exposed deposits at the site are confidently shown to be coeval with the Classic Aurignacian at the Balzi Rossi. Finally, the paper presents some results from our recent field research at the site. This includes, for the Epigravettian levels, the discovery of new human remains and of artifacts suggesting that a complex and multifaceted ritual, perhaps shamanistic in nature, accompanied the burial of dead ones at the site. We summarize here evidence that this ritual included the ceremonial ‘killing’ of ochred pebble tools used to prepare and apply ochre to the dead bodies