Prehistoric relatives of humans may have buried their dead and written symbols on cave walls — long before the oldest known human burials. That’s according to new findings presented at a conference at Stony Brook University.
Scientists first found the human-like species, called Homo naledi, in caves in South Africa less than a decade ago. After more research, they say Homo naledi buried their dead, marked the graves with engravings — and used fire to light their way down into the caves.
The research was led by National Geographic explorer-in-residence Lee Berger.
“I think we are facing a remarkable discovery here, of hominids— non-humans with brains a third the size of living humans, slightly larger than chimpanzee, that we are attributing to burying their dead, something previously only found in large-brained hominids," Berger said. "Prior to this, as well as making meaning-making symbols on the wall.”
If carbon dating verifies the findings, researchers say the site would predate the oldest known human burials by more than a thousand years. But Princeton University professor Agustin Fuentes said that’s not that unexpected.
“What is unexpected, what's very prominent about these discoveries is that here for the first time, we're showing that a non-homosapiens is engaging in clear behavior that we associate with more complex and particularly larger-brained organisms," Fuentes said.
Researchers say the bones could be anywhere from 240,000 to 500,000 years old.
