Earliest known human burial in Africa.

Autor: Martinón-Torres M; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain. maria.martinon@cenieh.es.; Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK. maria.martinon@cenieh.es., d'Errico F; UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France.; SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway., Santos E; Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.; Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales - Universidad de Alcalá), Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain., Álvaro Gallo A; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain., Amano N; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany., Archer W; Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa.; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany., Armitage SJ; SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.; Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK., Arsuaga JL; Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain., Bermúdez de Castro JM; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain.; Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK., Blinkhorn J; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.; Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany., Crowther A; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia., Douka K; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK., Dubernet S; UMR 5060 CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne IRAMAT-CRP2A: Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux - Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l'archéologie, Maison de l'archéologie, Pessac, France., Faulkner P; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia., Fernández-Colón P; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain., Kourampas N; Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.; Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK., González García J; 3D Applications Engineer and Heritage Specialist Digital Heritage and Humanities Collections, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA., Larreina D; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain., Le Bourdonnec FX; UMR 5060 CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne IRAMAT-CRP2A: Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux - Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l'archéologie, Maison de l'archéologie, Pessac, France., MacLeod G; Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK., Martín-Francés L; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain.; Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK., Massilani D; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany., Mercader J; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada., Miller JM; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany., Ndiema E; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; National Museums of Kenya, Department of Earth Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya., Notario B; CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain., Pitarch Martí A; UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France.; Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Facultat de Geografia i Història, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain., Prendergast ME; Department of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA., Queffelec A; UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France., Rigaud S; UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France., Roberts P; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia., Shoaee MJ; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany., Shipton C; Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK.; Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia., Simpson I; Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK., Boivin N; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. boivin@shh.mpg.de.; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. boivin@shh.mpg.de.; Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. boivin@shh.mpg.de.; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. boivin@shh.mpg.de., Petraglia MD; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. petraglia@shh.mpg.de.; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. petraglia@shh.mpg.de.; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. petraglia@shh.mpg.de.; Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. petraglia@shh.mpg.de.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature [Nature] 2021 May; Vol. 593 (7857), pp. 95-100. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 May 05.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8
Abstrakt: The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate 1-3 . Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa 1-6 . Here we describe the partial skeleton of a roughly 2.5- to 3.0-year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 thousand years ago, which was recovered in the MSA layers of Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave site in the tropical upland coast of Kenya 7,8 . Recent excavations have revealed a pit feature containing a child in a flexed position. Geochemical, granulometric and micromorphological analyses of the burial pit content and encasing archaeological layers indicate that the pit was deliberately excavated. Taphonomical evidence, such as the strict articulation or good anatomical association of the skeletal elements and histological evidence of putrefaction, support the in-place decomposition of the fresh body. The presence of little or no displacement of the unstable joints during decomposition points to an interment in a filled space (grave earth), making the PYS finding the oldest known human burial in Africa. The morphological assessment of the partial skeleton is consistent with its assignment to Homo sapiens, although the preservation of some primitive features in the dentition supports increasing evidence for non-gradual assembly of modern traits during the emergence of our species. The PYS burial sheds light on how MSA populations interacted with the dead.
Databáze: MEDLINE