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The first cemeteries of the western alpine region are detec- table around 4800 BC. These consist of cist graves made of stone (or in some cases wood) slabs and become relative- ly widespread during the following millennium. Over this greater geographical area and long time period (until ca. 3800 BC) these graves remain relatively uniform. However, a wide range of burial practices and funerary rituals can be observed in the context of Neolithic stone cist graves; sing- le- and collective graves with multiple usage phases occur simultaneously and side by side, as do primary and secondary inhumations with cremations and manipulations of human remains. I will present different examples from selected sites in Switzerland, France and Italy analyzed in the context of my PhD project. The aim is to highlight the evolution and multiplicity of burial practices within stone cist graves using anthropological- and new radiocarbon data.

Nowadays, the discovery and excavation of an almost intact Late Neolithic dolmen is rare, as those monuments were often visible in the landscape and have been investigated or destroyed in earlier times; therefore, information about the buried individuals has often been lost. The excavation of the dolmen, a stone grave chamber, from Oberbipp, Switzerland, in 2012 provided a unique opportunity to study human skeletal remains from a Late Neolithic collective burial (3350–2650 BCE). Over 2,000 fragmented and commingled skeletal elements were recovered and form the basis of this morphological study. Established morphological methods were employed to evaluate the minimum number of individuals, age at death, sex, stature, and the presence of pathological alterations and trauma. Sex was determined additionally by aDNA analysis. Elements of the entire human skeleton were recovered indicating a primary burial site. At least 42 individuals (femora) from all age classes (57%:43% adults to subadults) were buried in the dolmen. Based on aDNA analysis (n = 23, partes petrosae) slightly more males than females (44%:35% males to females, 22% indeterminate) were recovered. Stature was estimated from complete femora (n = 3) indicating an average body height between 154–157 cm. Pathological alterations and trauma could be observed on several bones, however, without indications for major interpersonal violence. The caries intensity of Swiss samples seems to be higher compared with other Neolithic European sites. A possible separation of burial areas for males and females based on the recovery of skeletal elements within the dolmen along with aDNA results is postulated. In addition, this article contributes to a better understanding of Late Neolithic populations in Central Europe.

Collective megalithic burials of the Late Neolithic are found in the western parts of Europe between Southern Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula, however the discovery of undisturbed sites is extremely rare. The dolmen of Oberbipp is one of the few collective megalithic burial sites including human remains in Switzerland. The site therefore provides a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary research. Morphological analysis indicates, that approximately 40 individuals are buried in the grave chamber. It was not possible archaeologically to determine different occupation periods within the inhumations. Since dolmen graves were often reused over hundreds of years, this question could only be addressed with radiocarbon dating.

Collective burials of the Late Neolithic are found all over Europe; however, undisturbed inhumations are rare. Therefore, the dolmen of Oberbipp (fig. 1) in Switzerland, with approximately 40 individuals, provides a great opportunity to study the burial in its entirety. Radiocarbon dating is used commonly in archaeology. Nevertheless, often only few samples are analyzed due to funding reasons. The aim of this project was twofold: a) to evaluate the burial sequence; b) to sample the most frequently occurring bone for dating at least at two laboratories.

This paper aims at exploring the potential of Bayesian statistics for chronologies using radiocarbon-dates from different settings: dry- and wetland sites of the Northern Alpine Foreland and the Inner Alpine area. In order to understand dynamic cultural phenomena independent scientific dating is indispensable. Beside dendrochronology, radiometric dating methods based on carbon isotopy are still most important. For multi-site evaluations easily accessible data collections are vital as e.g. provided by the database ‘Radon’1 used here. Furthermore, statistical approaches such as sequential calibration, work best with large amount of data. In our three case studies, the combination of both has yielded compelling results beyond conventional approaches: 1. Sequence-models of Neolithic wetland sites stratigraphies: Despite the possibility of using high-precision dendrochronologies, 14C-dates are still needed in cases of poor organic preservation. Using prior information such as stratigraphies, stratified artefacts and isolated dendrodates, extraordinary high-confindence Bayesian models can be achieved, like the examples Zurich-Kleiner Hafner (CH) and Ehrenstein (D) of the MET-project1 show. 2. Sum calibration-models for Inner Alpine Neolithic and Bronze Age sites: Until recently, having nearly no radiocarbon dates at hand, the chronology of this area was based on typological comparisons with the Swiss Plateau and Southern Germany. Within the CMCT-project3 we were able to generate new samples for Radiocarbon dates from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites. Hence, an absolute chronological framework can be established for the first time. 3. Systematic radiocarbon dating of Late Neolithic human remains: The dolmen of Oberbipp (CH) is one of a rare undisturbed inhumations collective burial with approximately 40 individuals. More than 60 samples of right femora could be dated in three different laboratories, yielding very robust results regarding the burial sequence. In all examples the statistic software R and c14bazAAR4 were used. 1 radon.ufg.uni-kiel.de 2 SNSF-project: http://p3.snf.ch/Project-156205 3 SNSF-project: http://p3.snf.ch/project-165306 4 https://github.com/ISAAKiel/c14bazAAR