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AN UNUSUAL 3700-year-old grave unearthed in Spain shows how little we know about some ancient burial practices.

At the Humanejos site, 20 kilometres south of Madrid, there are about 100 ancient tombs. None is quite as strange as grave 31.

Inside the 1.2-metre-deep grave, the body of a 15-year-old youth was placed, sitting upright. He was then partially buried, leaving his head and shoulders exposed to the elements. Eventually, the body decayed and the youth鈥檚 upper body collapsed 鈥� at which point more dirt was added to the grave to seal his remains.

It is a strange sequence of events, but it is the only obvious way to explain the arrangement of bones in the grave, according to Ana Herrero-Corral at the Complutense University of Madrid and her colleagues. They found all of the bones of the boy鈥檚 lower skeleton preserved in their correct anatomical position 鈥� in a seated pose 鈥� suggesting that this part of his body was held in place by earth as the body decayed.

But the bones of the boy鈥檚 upper skeleton, including his skull, were scattered in a jumbled mess, indicating that this part of his body wasn鈥檛 buried as it decomposed.

Nothing about the grave is typical. It is very rare to find ancient inhabitants of Spain, , buried in a seated pose, write the researchers.

They say that it is even more unusual in the Spanish archaeological record to find evidence of 鈥渆xposure鈥� rituals where the body, or parts of it, were deliberately left unburied, although there are places in the world where this is done today.

It is difficult to interpret such an unusual burial. It is possible, write the archaeologists, that the boy received special treatment because he was a high-status individual. Arguing against that idea is the isotopic evidence in his bones, which suggests he ate a poorer diet than other members of his community.

Perhaps, instead, the funerary ritual was a punishment, but the boy鈥檚 bones show no evidence he was executed. However, the grave did contain a single flint arrowhead, which might indicate he died from a violent injury that damaged a vital organ without leaving a mark on his skeleton.

It is a 鈥渢ough call鈥� to interpret the burial, says Tobias Richter at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. But he leans towards the idea of punishment or sacrifice. 鈥淚t is certainly possible that the person could have been buried alive and then shot [with the flint arrow],鈥� says Richter. It may also have been important for part of the body to then be left on display for others to see, he suggests.

鈥淭he exposure of death and聽corporeal decay [in former times] is such a mystery to us,鈥� says Mette L酶vschal at Aarhus University in Denmark. 鈥淚t is so聽different from how we consider our bodies today.鈥�

But Richter says archaeologists are increasingly comfortable about recognising this fact, and not trying to explain ancient behaviour through modern conventions. 鈥淲e do now have a bit more of an awareness of how 鈥榮trange鈥� the cultural practices in the past appear to us,鈥� he says.