A study suggests that our human ancestors who lived between 240,000 and 500,000 years ago may have buried their dead. This raises the question: when did this behavior begin?
Along with fishing, artistic creativity, and the use of blades as tools, the burial of the deceased is considered one of the defining characteristics that differentiate Homo sapiens (modern humans) from our now-extinct ancestors. However, for over a century, archaeological discoveries of graves believed to belong to prehistoric people have challenged the notion that only modern humans engaged in burial practices. This has sparked a debate regarding when and where this custom first emerged.
Burials in Prehistoric Caves?
In 2013, the Rising Star cave system was discovered approximately 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, which contained the remains of Homo naledi, a previously unknown hominid species. This species had short arms and a brain one-third the size of a modern human’s, living around 240,000 to 500,000 years ago. Shortly after, Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, led a team of scientists in conducting multiple excavations within the underground caves. They found the bones of at least 27 individuals.
When Berger and his colleagues published their initial findings in the journal eLife in 2015, they noted that the skeletal remains covered the cave floor and hypothesized that Homo naledi had moved the bodies there, possibly discarding the deceased intentionally.
Archaeologist Lee Berger believes that prehistoric people buried their dead in caves long ago. (Image credit: Internet).
After further research and the discovery of two nearly complete skeletons, along with sediment and stone analysis within the cave, the team concluded that Homo naledi did not simply bring bodies to this location; they buried their dead within the cave. Subsequently, they carved artworks on the walls to mark the graves.
However, Professor of Archaeology Paul Pettit at Durham University disagrees with this claim. “I do not believe that the team has demonstrated that this is intentional burial.”
When Did Burial Practices Begin?
Considering that the remaining skeletons may have shifted or even been transported to another location over thousands of years, determining when our human ancestors began to bury their dead is particularly challenging. It is of little use that many rituals associated with intentional burial are “archaeologically invisible,” as Pettit pointed out in 2018.
Although many Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) graves have been discovered over the past 150 years, there is still no consensus on which grave was the first intentionally created. However, among recent excavations and a re-examination of previous findings, there is strong evidence suggesting intentional Neanderthal burials at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France, Shanidar Cave in Iraq, and La Ferrassie rock shelter in Dordogne, France.
The oldest known intentional burial occurred about 100,000 years ago, in a cave at Qafzeh, Israel. Here, the remains of 15 of the first Homo sapiens were uncovered during excavations in the 1930s and 1960s.
The oldest known intentional burial occurred about 100,000 years ago. (Image credit: Internet).
More recently, the oldest known intentional burial site in Africa was excavated in 2013 near the Kenyan coast. About 78,000 years ago, a small child aged approximately 2.5 to 3.5 years was positioned in a fetal posture and laid to rest in a shallow grave.
These burials are early examples of a ritual that we continue to practice to this day. But according to Pettit, the act itself is not as remarkable as many might think.
He believes that experts should consider when prehistoric people began to exhibit a connection with the deceased, as well as when activities and rituals marking someone’s death served a social function.
