Paleontologists in South Africa said Monday they have found the oldest known burial site in the world, containing remains of a small-brained distant relative of humans previously thought incapable of complex behaviour.
was capable of complex emotional and cognitive behavior, they added.Engravings forming geometrical shapes, including a"rough hashtag figure", were also found on the apparently purposely smoothed surfaces of a cave pillar nearby.
"That would mean not only are humans not unique in the development of symbolic practices, but may not have even invented such behaviors," Berger told AFP in an interview. Such statements are likely to ruffle some feathers in the world of paleontology, where the 57-year-old has previously faced accusations of lacking scientific rigor and rushing to conclusions., first aired the idea that"That was too much for scientists to take at that time. We think it's all tied up with this big brain," he said.While requiring further analysis, the discoveries"alter our understandings of human evolution", the researchers wrote.
"Burial, meaning-making, even 'art' could have a much more complicated, dynamic, non-human history than we previously thought,"Carol Ward, an anthropologist at the University of Missouri not involved in the research, said that"these findings, if confirmed, would be of considerable potential importance".
"I look forward to learning how the disposition of remains precludes other possible explanations than intentional burial, and to seeing the results once they have been vetted byWard also pointed out that the paper acknowledged that it could not rule out that markings on the walls could have been made by later hominins.
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