Asian Journal of Paleopathology Vol.7, –, 2025

Received: March 22, 2025

Accepted: May 21, 2025

Published online: September 25, 2025

DOI: 10.32247/ajp2025.7.01

 
Case Study

Funeral practice at an early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement in Masyoon (Northwest Saudi Arabia)

Kenji Okazaki, Akinori Uesugi, Shogo Kume, Masashi Abe, Abudulmohsen Almunif, Sumio Fujii

Abstract

　Western Asia is known as the birthplace of a unique funeral practice involving secondary burials, such as the cranial cache. According to earlier studies, this funeral practice was geographically limited to the “Fertile Crescent.” This case study reports the funeral practices followed for three human skeletal remains from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement of Masyoon in northern Hijaz, beyond the southwestern edge of the conventional Fertile Crescent. The results of anatomical and corpse taphonomic analyses suggest that the three human remains were buried at some intervals in either a crouching position or a flexed lateral decubitus. They were interred close together near the floor of an abandoned house and covered by slate and soil, suggesting that they were the primary burial; a secondary funeral had probably been scheduled but was never carried out. Hence, they underwent defleshing in the temporary grave. The skull’s morphological appearances and cranial and postcranial bones’ morphometrical evaluation suggest that all are adult males, which dovetails with the fact that cranial cache usually focuses on males. The study’s results not only expand the regional scope of the funeral practices of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B but also provide important insights into the social background of the transition from hunting and gathering to (semi-)sedentary farming in northern Hijaz.

Key words

Funeral archaeology, archaeothanatology, secondary burial, skeletonization, northern Hijaz