Virtual reconstruction of the Panga ya Saidi hominin remains at the site (left) and ideal reconstruction of the child’s original position at the moment of finding (right). Photo credit: Jorge González/Elena Santos
Virtual reconstruction of the Panga ya Saidi hominin remains at the site ( left ) and ideal reconstruction of the child's original position at the moment of finding ( right ). Photo credit: Jorge González/Elena Santos Dating to 78,000 years ago, the bones of a child were found by a team of archaeologists in Panga ya Saidi, a cave site on the Kenyan coast. It is considered the oldest human burial in Africa. A new study published in Nature by an international team of researchers details the earliest modern human burial in Africa. The remains of a 2.5 to 3 year-old child were found in a flexed position, deliberately buried in a shallow grave directly under the sheltered overhang of the cave. The burial at Panga ya Saidi in Kenya joins increasing evidence of early complex social behaviours in Homo sapiens . University of Sydney archaeologist Dr Patrick Faulkner was one of 36 global researchers who contributed to the discovery.
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