One of the unanswered questions regarding the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is the small number of artifacts associated with funerary rites. Although very large settlements have been explored by archaeologists, there is little evidence of mortuary activity. American archaeologist Douglass W. Bailey makes a distinction between the eastern Tripolye and the western Cucuteni regions of the Cucuteni–Trypillia geographical area, writing, "There are no Cucuteni cemeteries and the Tripolye ones that have been discovered are very late." Some historians have contrasted the funerary practices of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture with the neighboring
Linear Pottery culture, which existed from 5500 to 4500 BC in the region of present-day Hungary and extending westward into central Europe, coinciding with the Precucuteni to Cucuteni A Phases. Archaeological evidence from the Linear Pottery sites have shown that these cultures practiced
cremation and
inhumation (or burial). However, there appears to have been a distinction made in the Linear-Pottery culture on where the bodies were interred based on gender and social dominance. Females and children were found buried beneath the floor of the house, while men were missing, indicating some other practice was associated with how they dealt with the dead bodies of males. One of the conclusions drawn from this evidence was espoused by Gimbutas. In
The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe, she theorizes that women and children were associated with hearth and home and would therefore be buried beneath it as an act of connecting their bodies to the home. Collectively taking these characteristics of the neighboring Linear Pottery culture into consideration, scholars theorized that additional Cucuteni–Tryilian sites may be found, including locations that may be detached from the main settlements where there may be evidence of the practice of cremation. Archaeologists have discussed broadening the search areas around known Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements to cover a much wider area and to employ modern techniques in order to find evidence of outlying sites where evidence of funerary activities was found. In addition to cremation and burial, other possible methods of disposing of the bodies of the dead have been suggested. Romanian archaeologists Silvia Marinescu-Bîlcu and Alexandra Bolomey suggest a common practice of abandoning the body to the mercy of Mother Nature, a practice that may be somewhat similar to the
Zoroastrian tradition of placing the bodies of the dead on top of a
Tower of Silence (or Dakhma), which are then fed upon by
carrion birds. In 1960, Russian archaeologist Tamara Grigorevna Movsha proposed a theory to explain the absence of some bones. According to her theory, some bones were considered to have magical powers and were purposely scattered across the settlement. Others have suggested the practices of
cannibalism (also known as anthrophagy), or
excarnation, which is the practice of removing the flesh and organs of the dead, leaving only the bones. Romanian archaeologist Sergiu Haimovici writes about such a discovery: ...Alexandra Bolomey...made a review of a series of...human remains, (and) found...at least partly, (that) they have a
cultic character and maybe even...an
antropophagy of (a) cultic type. This would indicate that perhaps some ritualistic cannibalism was practiced among the Cucuteni–Trypillia tribes. The only conclusion that can be drawn from archeological evidence is that, in the vast majority of cases in the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, the bodies were not formally deposited within the settlement area. ==Cremation==