About 34,000 years ago, a group of hunters and gatherers buried their dead — including two boys with physical conditions — using the utmost care. However, these dead were buried in fairly different ways, a new study finds. 

The roughly 10- and 12-year-old boys were buried head to head in a long, slender grave filled with riches, including more than 10,000 mammoth ivory beads, more than 20 armbands, about 300 pierced fox teeth, 16 ivory mammoth spears, carved artwork, deer antlers and two human fibulas (calf bones) laid across the boys' chests, the researchers said.

In contrast, the remains of a roughly 40-year-old man, an individual who would have had more time and physical ability to contribute to the group, had far fewer treasures: about 3,000 mammoth ivory beads, 12 pierced fox canines, 25 mammoth ivory arm bands and a stone pendant. [See Images of the Ancient Man and Boys' Burials]

"From the point of view of the mortuary behavior, the burial of the adult is, in fact, very different from the burial of the children," study co-lead researcher Erik Trinkaus, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, told Live Science.

 

Paleolithic site

Credit: Antiquity 2018

Researchers have known about Sunghir, an archaeological site on the northeast outskirts of Vladimir, Russia, for about 50 years. The site was excavated between 1957 and 1977.

Sunghir burials

Researchers have known about the Sunghir burials for about half a century. The burials, which date to the Mid Upper Paleolithic, are located on the northeast outskirts of Vladimir, Russia, and were excavated from 1957 to 1977.

Unusual bones

Credit: E. Trinkaus; Antiquity 2018

The 12-year-old boy didn't have much wear on his teeth (top left and bottom left), indicating that he likely ate soft foods that didn't require much grinding. He also had a skull with an unusual shape, the researchers said.

The thighbones of the 10-year-old boy (right) were short and bowed.

When these hunters and gatherers lived, about 34,000 years ago, the region was going through a slightly warmer period than the ice ages before and after it, the researchers noted. The warmer weather explains, in part, how these ancient people were able to dig graves in what would have otherwise been frozen ground, the researchers added.

In total, there are 10 men and women buried at Sunghir, but the two boys have, by far, the most spectacular riches of the lot, the researchers said. The boys also have physical conditions that likely limited the individuals during their short lives.

Grave goods

Credit: E. Trinkaus; Antiquity 2018

The 10-year-old boy had ivory beads and ochre on the upper part of his hip bones, known as the ilia. Next to it is the thighbone of an adult that was placed in the 12-year-old boy's grave.

Both boys experienced repeated periods of extreme stress, according to an analysis of their dental enamel, the study said. What's more, the 10-year-old boy's thighbones are "exceptionally bowed and short," Trinkaus and co-lead researcher Alexandra Buzhilova, an anthropologist at Lomonosov Moscow State University, in Russia, wrote in the study. But otherwise, the young boy was physically active, an analysis of his skeleton showed.

Meanwhile, the 12-year-old boy's teeth had almost no wear, "which, to us, doesn't sound like much, but people from this time wore their teeth down quickly," Trinkaus said. Analyses of his skeleton indicate that the boy was bedridden, Trinkaus added.

Fox teeth and mammoth ivory beads

Credit: N.O. Bader; Antiquity 2018

Photos of the 10-year-old boy (left) and 12-year-old boy (right). The boys are covered with mammoth ivory beads and pierced fox canines. They're also lying next to ivory spears, one of which has a disk on it, the researchers noted.

"Already at this time period, which is very early in the Upper Paleolithic, we already have a diversity and a complexity of human social behavior that is much more than is normally projected for hunters and gatherers at this time period," Trinkaus said. "And it's reflected in their mortuary behavior."

It's possible the group was feeding the 12-year-old boy soft foods, such as porridge, but "it is really bizarre to have an individual who looks like he was bedridden in a group of hunters and gatherers who were extremely mobile," Trinkaus said.

Respectful burials

These two boys aren't the only people with disabilities known to have received burials during this time period. "Indeed, in the Mid Upper Paleolithic, individuals with marked developmental or degenerative abnormalities are relatively common in the burial record, accounting for a third of the sufficiently well-preserved individuals," the researchers wrote in the study.

Red ochre and beads

Credit: Illustration by K. Favrilov; Antiquity 2018

Like other burials from the Paleolithic, the bodies at Sunghir are covered with red ochre. This colored photomontage shows the remains of a roughly 40-year-old man who is covered with mammoth ivory beads. It's likely that the beads were sewn onto the man's clothing, which has since decayed.

"The fact that they all have lots of beads probably suggests that they had clothing with lots of beads on it all the time," study co-lead researcher Erik Trinkaus, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, told Live Science.

However, it was slightly less common for youngsters to receive such a burial during this period, the researchers said. [10 Things That Make Humans Special]

What really caught the researchers' attention was the diversity of the burial artifacts. Some people had only a few fox canines and mammoth ivory beads, while other individuals didn't have anything. This indicates social complexity, because it shows that people were treated differently in death, and probably in life, too, Trinkaus said.

Fatal injury

Credit: N.O. Bader and E. Trinkaus; Antiquity 2018

Photos showing the adult man and his ochre-stained skull. Notice an incision in his neck vertebra (white arrow) - an injury that likely led to his immediate death.

The finding shows that you didn't have to be a "big, adult male hunter" to get an extravagant burial during the Mid Upper Paleolithic, said Lawrence Straus, a distinguished professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of New Mexico, who wasn't involved with the study.

"In this case, adolescents — people with disabilities or pathologies that would have limited their full functioning — are getting some amazing treatment," Straus told Live Science.

Two boys

Credit: Illustration by K. Gavrilov; Antiquity 2018

A colored photomontage of the two boys arranged head to head. Despite their young ages and physical conditions, the boys received an extravagant burial.