Not much is known about burial practices in England during the Mesolithic period. In the Early Mesolithic people were sometimes buried in caves. One important cemetery site is the cave of Aveline’s Hole in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, where 70 skeletons were found. The site was discovered in 1797 and so little was recorded about the position of the finds. Some of the bodies were covered in red ochre and were accompanied with grave goods of beads made from pig and red deer teeth and shells. Only a few bones survive today, but radiocarbon dates on these bones indicate the cave was only in use for a few generations, between 7100 and 6800 BC.

In the Late Mesolithic, there is evidence that bodies were sometimes exposed in the open air after death. A large number of finger and toe bones were found on a shell midden (rubbish heap) on the Scottish island of Oronsay. It seems that bodies were left on the midden until the flesh had rotted away. Then the skeleton was carried away, leaving behind only the smaller bones that had become disarticulated, such as those from the fingers and toes.