Archaeologists have identified the oldest human burial site in Africa during their work at the archaeological site in Kenya.
The remains of a child were carefully placed in a grave nearly 80,000 years ago. The bone arrangement shows a 3-year-old child being placed with his feet tied to his chest, and possibly wrapped in a tarpaulin and a pillow. This ancient mineral was named Mtoto - in Swahili, meaning child.
Archaeologists discovered the skeleton when excavating the mouth of Pangaya Saidi Cave in the tropical highlands of the coastal plain of Kenya about 10km from the coast.
This finding is quite spectacular, said Michael Petraglia, professor of human history andolution at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Humanistic History in Jena, Germany. This is the oldest burial ground for humans in Africa. It shows us something about awareness, sociality and behavior and all of them are very familiar to us today."
The archaeological group excavated the edge of the tomb and the first pieces of bones in 2013, but these pieces of bones were too fragile to break. Therefore, in the following 4 years, researchers dug the grave from above to expose the bones and then applied flexible matter to the material. However, the bones were still too fragile to be excavated.
After that, the archaeological group decided to dig around the round hole, about 40cm wide and 13cm deep, and wrap the entire grave in high marble to safely remove it from the ground. The tomb was brought to the National Museum in Nairobi and to a specialized lab in Spain for further excavation and photography using 3D X-ray equipment.
Two small teeth found in a tomb joined to a Homo sapiens tooth date range from 2.5 to 3 years old. Other teeth were still in the child's lower jaw. Bones also include the spine, ribs and other bones from the shoulders to the limbs. Some stone tools were also found in and around the tomb.
According to research published in the journal Nature, the bones are about 78,000 years old.
Archaeologists have found older burial sites outside of Africa. Human remains were excavated from burial sites in Skhul Cave on the slopes of Carmel Mountains in Israel and Qafzeh Cave near Nazareth, dating back between 90,000 and 130,000 years.
