Let’s talk about death, baby! Burying and memorializing the dead is typically thought of as a distinctly human (or at least hominid) act. In this episode, Meagan is joined by Substitute Sister and history teacher, Amy Manlapas, to talk about what that has looked like for the last few hundred thousand years (we’ve been digging graves for a long time!). Starting with the 400,000 year old (and pre-burial-practices) Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones) in Spain, we dig through the history of graves leading up to the modern cemetery. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.
You can find Amy on TikTok @amymanlapas or through her website: https://amy-elizabeth.net/.
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Here are our sources:
- https://www.sciencealert.com/keith-eggener-ted-talk-on-history-of-the-cemetary
- https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/burial
- https://www.talkdeath.com/the-most-fascinating-ancient-burial-rituals/
- https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-latest-on-homo-naledi
- https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jul/22/small-brained-early-humans-homo-naledi-cleverer-storm
- https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/our-strange-unsettled-history-of-mourning
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral
- https://ideas.ted.com/11-fascinating-funeral-traditions-from-around-the-globe/
- https://news.wisc.edu/archeologists-uncover-evidence-of-intentional-burial-cave-engravings-by-early-human-ancestor/
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-human-relatives-may-have-buried-their-dead-180982308/
- https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/archaeologicaltheory/5144.html
- http://www.spoilheap.co.uk/burial.htm
- https://portaltothepast.newsouthassoc.com/sample-page/mortuary-archaeology/
- https://pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeology/2015/09/21/rituals-and-remains/
- https://www.sciencealert.com/the-oldest-known-burial-site-in-the-world-was-not-made-by-our-species
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03457-8
- https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/african-genesis/oldest-burials-and-their-significance/1B10F74654E37D2BC17D34C79E819134
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-discover-oldest-known-human-grave-africa-180977659/
- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/scientist-discover-worlds-oldest-burial-site-in-south-africa/2915622
- https://www.sutori.com/en/story/the-evolution-of-ancient-burial-practices-and-beliefs-to-the-modern-day–4egVs2akSCxkc2dsHhcr8dwP
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/06/05/homo-naledi-burial/
- https://www.sapiens.org/culture/hominin-burial/
- https://www.worldhistory.org/tomb/
- https://www.worldhistory.org/burial/
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-seeds-of-civilization-78015429/
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-discover-oldest-known-human-grave-africa-180977659/
- https://thenaturalhistorian.com/2014/06/26/pit-of-bones-spain-human-origins-creationism/