A Northumbria University forensic scientist was part of a team which has unearthed the earliest example of burials by human ancestors.
Dr Patrick Randolph-Quinney is Associate Professor of Forensic Science at Northumbria and specialises in taphonomy and thanatology - the science of death and processes that affect a body from decomposition, through to skeletonisation, then recovery. In a project funded by the National Geographic Society, Dr Randolph-Quinney was one of a team of experts who unearthed new evidence in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa suggesting an extinct human cousin named Homo naledi buried their dead.
This symbolic behaviour had previously only associated with modern humans and Neanderthals. Bodies of Homo naledi adults and several children, thought to be younger than 13 were deposited in foetal positions within pits, which suggests intentional burial of the dead.
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The findings could be some of the earliest examples of burial practices by a small brained human relative, with the fossils having been dates to 226,000 to 335,000 years old, predating the earliest known Homo sapiens' burials by at least 100,000 years. This makes the Rising Star burials the most ancient in the world.
Homo naledi fossils were first discovered in the Rising Star cave system during excavations in 2013. It is part of South Africa's Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing an area where scientists have found fossils of multiple ancient human species. Dr Randolph-Quinney has worked extensively in funerary and mortuary archaeology, recovering human and animal remains from deep prehistory through to the recent past across the world.
He has used his experience from funerary archaeology and forensic casework, together with studies of how human bodies decompose and methods of 3D imaging and spatial analysis to help understand the site formation processes and Homo naledi burials in the cave system.
Dr Randolph-Quinney said: "I have used a branch of forensic science called forensic taphonomy to understand the processes that affected the bodies of Homo naledi after they died. Forensic taphonomy uses data from experiments conducted at forensic research facilities – so-called body farms – where decomposition of humans and other animals can be studied in a variety of settings, as well as forensic casework to understand what happens to a body after death.
"Forensic scientists try to understand the many processes that can affect a body after death – the pattern of decomposition, how long it takes, which parts of the body separate and when, and the effects of soil, water and scavengers on the skeleton. We use this accumulated forensic data to determine that bodies of Homo naledi were deliberately placed in graves within the cave, and covered up with cave sediments, a process known as interment."
Dr Randolph-Quinney acknowledge that we don't know exactly why Homo naledi buried their dead, we do know that humans and many other animals understand that death is important.
He said: "Humans have a huge range of funerary customs including burial in the ground, cremation, leaving a body in the open air and mummification. We know that humans experience grief and sadness when someone they know dies, and these emotions seem to be experienced by non-humans such as chimpanzees, elephants, and crows.
"These animals don’t bury their dead, but they do have rituals and behaviours that seem to indicate they feel grief and understand that the dead aren’t coming back to life. It’s likely Homo naledi shared these emotions too, and burial of their dead was a way of recognising the importance and finality of death."
Northumbria University has been ranked fourth in the UK for Forensic Science in the Complete University Guide 2024.
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