A mysterious human species may have been the first to bury their dead

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An extinct human species may have deliberately buried its dead and carved meaningful symbols deep in a South African cave. If confirmed, the burials would be the earliest yet known by at least 100,000 years

. “I might have been one of those people who's been skeptical about the idea that a small-brained creature likecould be going deep into the cave to dispose of its dead,” he says. “But I have to say, on the amount I've seen so far, that yes, it does change my view on the balance of probability.”

The nature of the cave’s dolomitic limestone walls make dating very difficult, and researchers concede that it will be “challenging to assess whether the engravings are contemporary with thenotes that the particular cross-hatch designs that appear on the cave walls are “very similar” to designs found in later Homo sapiens sites in the region, as well as indigenous Khoi-San imagery.

The fossil record shows that relative brain size in many hominin populations increased over the course of two million years, topping off withHomo naledi’sIf this small-brained hominin did in fact engage in advanced behaviors such as deliberate burial and the creation of symbols associated with those burials, the researchers argue, then brain size shouldn’t be a major factor in determining whether a hominin species is capable of complex cognition.

 

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