Cremation pyre in Africa thought to be world’s oldest containing adult remains | Anthropology

A cremation pyre built around 9,500 years ago has been discovered in Africa, offering new insight into the complexity of ancient hunter-gatherer communities.

Researchers say the pyre, discovered in a rock shelter at the foot of Mount Hora in northern Malawi, is believed to be the oldest in the world to contain adult remains, the oldest confirmed intentional cremation in Africa and the first pyre associated with African hunter-gatherers.

A total of 170 individual human bone fragments – apparently from an adult female measuring just under 1.5 meters (5 feet) – were discovered in two groups during excavations in 2017 and 2018, along with layers of ash, charcoal and sediment.

However, the woman’s skull was missing, while cut marks suggest some bones were separated at the joints and flesh removed before the body was burned.

“There is no evidence to suggest that they committed any act of violence or cannibalism on the remains,” said Dr. Jessica Cerezo-Román of the University of Oklahoma, who led the study. Instead, she said, body parts could have been removed as part of a burial ritual, perhaps to be carried as symbols.

Dr. Jessica Thompson, lead author of the study at Yale University, said that even though such practices may not seem relevant, people still keep strands of hair or the ashes of their loved ones to scatter in a meaningful place.

Researchers said the rock shelter appears to have been used as a natural monument, with burials taking place around 16,000 to 8,000 years ago. In addition to complete skeletons, very small collections of bones from different individuals have been found.

“[This] supports our hypothesis that some of the missing bones from the cremated woman may have been deliberately removed and taken as evidence for preservation or reburial elsewhere,” said study co-author Dr. Ebeth Sawchuk from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

The team also found shards and points from cutting stones in the pyre, which may have been added as part of a burial ritual.

“Were people actively throwing these objects into the fire or… were they in the body itself? Thompson said. Cerezo-Román said it’s possible people cut stones to cut the woman’s flesh.

The team also discovered that the pyre was about the size of a queen-size mattress and would have taken a lot of knowledge, skill and coordination to build and maintain, while the two groups of bones indicate that the body was moved during cremation.

Although it is unclear why the woman received such special treatment, the team discovered that at least one fire was later lit directly above the location of the pyre – perhaps as an act of remembrance.

However, the site also shows evidence of several campfires, with Thompson noting that it is likely the shelter would have also been used for daily living.

Writing in the journal Science Advances, the team notes that the oldest known pyre containing human remains was discovered in Alaska and dates to around 11,500 years ago – but it was of a young child.

Indeed, most burned human remains dating back 8,000 years or more have not been found in a pyre, and before the latest discovery, the first confirmed intentional cremations in Africa had only appeared around 3,500 years ago, among Neolithic pastoral populations.

Thompson said the discovery that different people deserved different treatment in death “suggests that in life their social roles would also have been much more complex than I ever imagined, or that this is certainly portrayed in a stereotypical way for tropical hunter-gatherers, especially these old ones.”

Joel Irish, professor of anthropology and archeology at Liverpool John Moores University, who was not involved in the work, welcomed the discovery.

“The fact that this is such an early date and that they would have been short-lived as hunter-gatherers makes things even more astonishing,” he said.

“They clearly had advanced belief systems and a high level of social complexity at that time.”