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Earliest known human burial in Africa
Nature ( IF 64.8 ) Pub Date : 2021-05-05 , DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8
María Martinón-Torres 1, 2 , Francesco d'Errico 3, 4 , Elena Santos 5, 6 , Ana Álvaro Gallo 1 , Noel Amano 7 , William Archer 8, 9, 10 , Simon J Armitage 4, 11 , Juan Luis Arsuaga 5, 12 , José María Bermúdez de Castro 1, 2 , James Blinkhorn 7, 11, 13 , Alison Crowther 7, 14 , Katerina Douka 7, 15 , Stéphan Dubernet 16 , Patrick Faulkner 7, 17 , Pilar Fernández-Colón 1 , Nikos Kourampas 18, 19 , Jorge González García 20 , David Larreina 1 , François-Xavier Le Bourdonnec 16 , George MacLeod 19 , Laura Martín-Francés 1, 2 , Diyendo Massilani 21 , Julio Mercader 7, 22 , Jennifer M Miller 7 , Emmanuel Ndiema 7, 23 , Belén Notario 1 , Africa Pitarch Martí 3, 24 , Mary E Prendergast 25 , Alain Queffelec 3 , Solange Rigaud 3 , Patrick Roberts 7, 14 , Mohammad Javad Shoaee 7 , Ceri Shipton 26, 27 , Ian Simpson 18 , Nicole Boivin 7, 14, 22, 28 , Michael D Petraglia 7, 14, 29, 30
Affiliation  

The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate1,2,3. Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa1,2,3,4,5,6. Here we describe the partial skeleton of a roughly 2.5- to 3.0-year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 thousand years ago, which was recovered in the MSA layers of Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave site in the tropical upland coast of Kenya7,8. Recent excavations have revealed a pit feature containing a child in a flexed position. Geochemical, granulometric and micromorphological analyses of the burial pit content and encasing archaeological layers indicate that the pit was deliberately excavated. Taphonomical evidence, such as the strict articulation or good anatomical association of the skeletal elements and histological evidence of putrefaction, support the in-place decomposition of the fresh body. The presence of little or no displacement of the unstable joints during decomposition points to an interment in a filled space (grave earth), making the PYS finding the oldest known human burial in Africa. The morphological assessment of the partial skeleton is consistent with its assignment to Homo sapiens, although the preservation of some primitive features in the dentition supports increasing evidence for non-gradual assembly of modern traits during the emergence of our species. The PYS burial sheds light on how MSA populations interacted with the dead.



中文翻译:

非洲已知最早的人类墓葬

人类太平间做法的起源和演变是引起强烈兴趣和争论的话题1,2,3。可追溯到中石器时代 (MSA) 的人类墓葬在非洲极为罕见,而在东非却鲜为人知 1,2,3,4,5,6。在这里,我们描述了一个大约 2.5 至 3.0 岁儿童的部分骨骼,可追溯到 78.3 ± 4100 年前,该骨骼是在热带高地海岸洞穴遗址 Panga ya Saidi (PYS) 的 MSA 层中发现的肯尼亚7,8. 最近的挖掘工作揭示了一个坑洼特征,其中包含一个处于弯曲位置的儿童。对埋葬坑内容物和包裹考古层的地球化学、粒度和微观形态分析表明,该坑是故意挖掘的。埋藏证据,例如骨骼元素的严格表达或良好的解剖学关联以及腐烂的组织学证据,支持新鲜尸体的就地分解。在分解过程中不稳定关节的位移很少或没有位移,这表明在填充空间(墓地)中进行了埋葬,这使得 PYS 发现了非洲已知最古老的人类墓葬。部分骨骼的形态学评估与其对智人的分配一致,尽管牙列中一些原始特征的保存支持越来越多的证据表明在我们物种的出现过程中现代特征的非渐进组装。PYS 的墓葬揭示了 MSA 人群如何与死者互动。

更新日期:2021-05-05
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