Researchers may find oldest human burial site

In South Africa, researchers say they have discovered the oldest burial ground in the world. The graves are at least 100,000 years older than those of the genus Homo sapiens, which have been found so far in the Middle East and Africa.

A research team says it has discovered the world's oldest burial ground in South Africa. This was reported by ORF on Tuesday.

The group, led by the well-known South African paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, is said to have found several specimens of prehistoric man Homo naledi at a depth of 30 meters in a cave system near Johannesburg.

These are the oldest burial sites in the history of the great apes, according to a preprint of the study. According to the scientists, the results will be published in the journal eLife.

The tombs are at least 100,000 years older than those of the genus Homo sapiens, which have been found so far in the Middle East and Africa. These were about 100,000 years old, but the burial sites now found by Lee Berger and his colleagues in the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Cradle of Humankind" were said to date back to at least 200,000 years BC.

The findings would call into question the previous understanding of human evolution, according to which only the development of larger brains made complex activities such as burying the dead possible. Homo naledi is considered the link between the great apes and modern humans. He had a brain the size of an orange, was about 1.50 m tall, could use tools and walk upright on two legs. The discovery of this species eight years ago turned the idea of a linear evolutionary history of humans upside down.

The current finds are oval holes that, according to the study, were deliberately dug and then refilled to cover the bodies. At least five specimens of Homo naledi were found in it.

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