Funeral services

The human species of the Palaeolithic Age already buried their deceased relatives. In Saxony, the earliest known graves date back to the Mesolithic period, over 7500 years ago. However, larger burial sites are only found when humans began to settle down in the Neolithic period. Over the following millennia, different cultures have also developed different customs and traditions for burying their deceased members. There are individual graves as well as collective burials and cemeteries. At some times, the body was buried in a sitting position, with the legs bent at the side or stretched out, at others the body was cremated and the ashes buried in urns. We know flat graves and those that have been made visible with a mound.