Grave goods

A tomb from the Varna necropolis, circa 4600 BC, with the world's oldest gold jewellery yet discovered.

Grave goods are objects that are buried with a dead person. In archaeology and anthropology, they are items placed in a grave along with a body.

Grave goods are often personal belongings, supplies for the person's journey to the afterlife, or gifts for gods. Most grave goods found by archaeologists are made from materials such as pottery, stone, and metal. However, many objects made from wood, cloth, food, and other materials were also buried but later decayed.

People often buried favorite foods and everyday objects with the dead because they believed these things would be useful in the afterlife. Social status also affected what was buried and how often such items were included.

When valuable objects are buried, there is a risk of grave robbery. The tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun is famous because it was one of the few Egyptian tombs that was not completely looted in ancient times.

Grave goods can be seen as a type of sacrifice meant to help the dead person in the afterlife. In East Asia, people may burn hell bank notes and similar offerings.

History

The remains of the 430,000-year-old Sima de los Huesos hominins may have been intentionally buried. However, some scholars disagree with this idea. A large Acheulean handaxe was found with the remains and has been suggested as a possible grave good.

The earliest widely accepted burials of Homo sapiens come from the Upper Palaeolithic period. There is evidence that people of the Badarian culture in ancient Egypt buried objects with their dead during very early times. These objects included pots, shells, combs, stone vessels, animal figures, and slate palettes.

Beads made of basalt have been found in graves in the Fertile Crescent. They date to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, around the 12th and 11th millennia BC.

Archaeologists often study grave goods to learn about social differences. Early Neolithic graves usually contain similar objects, suggesting that these societies were mostly classless. In contrast, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age burials often contain rich grave goods only in the graves of powerful leaders, showing signs of social stratification.

Grave goods may also show beliefs about the afterlife and spirituality. For example, ancient Egyptians buried pharaohs with food, household items, vehicles, and other possessions because they believed these things would be needed in the afterlife.

Other websites

• The Earliest Beads, Treasures From the Ancient World, Museum of Ancient and Modern Art, at muma.org Archived 2020-11-27 at the Wayback Machine