The interior of Neolithic tombs in Europe is frequently decorated with carved and painted motifs. In Sardinia (Italy), 116 rock-cut tombs have their walls covered with bucrania (schematic depictions of cattle head and horns), which have long been interpreted as representations of a bull-like divinity. This article reviews similar examples of bucranium ‘art’ in the tombs of three traditional societies in South-East Asia, focusing on the agency of the motifs and their roles within social relationships between the living, the dead, and the spiritual world. From these ethnographic examples and the archaeological evidence in Sardinia, it is suggested that bucrania in Neolithic tombs were a specialized form of material culture that had multiple, cumulative effects and functions associated with social display, memory, reproduction, death, and protection.

中文翻译：

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布克拉尼亚在坟墓里做什么？新石器时代撒丁岛和传统东南亚的艺术和代理

欧洲新石器时代墓葬的内部经常装饰有雕刻和彩绘图案。在撒丁岛（意大利），116 座岩石墓葬的墙壁上覆盖着牛头和牛角（牛头和牛角的示意图），长期以来，牛头和牛角一直被解释为象征公牛般的神性。本文回顾了东南亚三个传统社会墓葬中类似的颅骨“艺术”例子，重点关注主题的代理及其在生者、死者和精神世界之间的社会关系中的作用。从这些民族志的例子和撒丁岛的考古证据可以看出，新石器时代墓葬中的 bucrania 是一种特殊的物质文化形式，具有与社会展示、记忆、繁殖、死亡和保护相关的多重累积效应和功能。