Upright and empty-handed to the afterlife

The Early Eneolithic cemetery at Podivín in south Moravia, comprising seven burials together with a contemporary grave from Lednice, provides important evidence for understanding regional diversity in mortuary behaviour between 3800 and 3600 BCE. This study integrates multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence – physical anthropological examination, palaeopathological assessment, isotope analysis (C, N, and Sr), dental microwear, and radiocarbon dating – to explore diet, mobility, and funerary practices. The predominance of extended inhumations lacking grave goods distinguishes the Moravian and northern Lower Austrian region from neighbouring areas, where crouched burials with rich assemblages were typical. The results point to a community mostly of local origin characterized by a diet heavily dependent on animal products and by unique palaeopathological indicators of vitamin C deficiency (scurvy). The Podivín group may therefore represent a pastoral subgroup within a sparsely populated marginal zone, contrasting with more agriculturally oriented settlements further north. Radiocarbon dates imply that the burial ground was used over an extended period. Although certain cultural traits link the site to the Funnel Beaker phenomenon, the local mortuary customs differ substantially, perhaps reflecting distinct ideological conceptions of death and the afterlife.