How giant snails helped confirm the oldest human burial in Africa
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Researchers have confirmed the oldest human burial site discovered in Africa, piecing the find together through painstaking work involving meticulous archaeological methods, intricate computer modelling, and the shells of giant snails.
A child, aged between two and three years old, was carefully laid to rest in a cave which today is known as Panga ya Saidi, on the Kenyan coast.
An artist’s impression of the child, nicknamed “Mtoto”, meaning “child” in Swahili.
Child’s Grave Is Earliest Known Burial Site in Africa
A child laid to rest in 78,000 years ago, yields clues to early human burials in East Africa.
A virtual ideal reconstruction of the burial position of Mtoto, a 3-year-old boy buried 78,000 years ago.Credit.Jorge González/Elena Santos
May 5, 2021, 11:48 a.m. ET
Researchers have identified the earliest known human burial in Africa at Panga ya Saidi, a cave near the Kenyan coast. A child, probably a boy of about 2-1/2 to 3 years old, was placed in a pit about 78,000 years ago, laid carefully on his side, curled up, likely with some kind of pillow under his head.
A group of archaeologists has found the oldest deliberate burial of a modern human ever discovered in Africa, dating back 78,300 years ago. The discovery sheds new light on the early origins of this ancient practice.