Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger claims that the oldest burial site in the world, dating back to some 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, is in South Africa. He believes the primitive Homo naledi species buried their dead and carved symbols on tomb walls. The findings challenge the current understanding of human evolution.
“We are going to tell the world that we have discovered a non-human species, that had fire and controlled it, and went into incredibly difficult- to-reach spaces, and buried its dead in a ritual fashion, over and over and over again.
“And while they were doing that, they carved symbols on the wall above it", said paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, a professor at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Berger, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, and his team uncovered fossil remains ofHomo naledi adults and children, in a fetal position, in shallow holes, in a burial chamber some 30 metres underground.
The holes, which researchers say were deliberately dug and then filled in to cover the bodies, contain at least five individuals.
To unearth the secrets of an ancient human relative, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger had to squeeze through a chute seven and a half inches wide—the length of a pencil
— National Geographic (@NatGeo) June 5, 2023
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"These are the most ancient interments [burials] yet recorded in the hominin record, earlier than evidence of Homo sapiensinterments by at least 100,000 years," the scientists wrote in a series of preprint papers – yet to be peer-reviewed – to be published in eLife.
The oldest burial sites previously unearthed, found in the Middle East and Africa, contained the remains of Homo sapiens.
Homo naledi
In 2015, Lee Berger announced a new species of primitive human relative, the Homo naledi, whose bones were found in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site, 50 kilomeres north-west of Johannesburg.
Homo, because it belonged in the genus shared by other humans, and naledi, meaning star in the Sesotho language.
Berger describes Homo naledi as being similar in size and weight to a small modern human. It stood 1.50 metre tall, with human-like hands that could work objects and legs for walking upright.
“This is not a human species, they have a brain the third the size of ours, it’s about the size of a chimpanzee’s,” Berger told CNN TV channel.
With @CNN https://t.co/fl38WZEduc
— Lee R Berger (@LeeRberger) June 7, 2023
In 2013, Berger and his team began excavating 1,550 fossil elements of Homo naledi, 30 metres underground in a chamber they called Dinaledi, or chamber of stars, located within the Rising Star cave system.
This particular burial site was discovered in 2018, but Berger could only see it through videos. He said he had to loose 55 pounds “to get into a 40 foot long chute that is around seven to nine foot wide”. The “chute” is a vertical corridor that leads into the Dinaledi chamber.
The Homo naledi’s small size enabled it to travel through the narrow passageways of the Rising Star cave system.
Brain and carvings
The research team describes a series of marks carved into the cave’s walls which they say are symbols on tomb walls.
“The carving symbols date back to 150,000 years before humans even thought of doing that. The carving symbols look familiar to us, crosses, boxes, triangles, hashtags,” Berger said.
The findings question the current understanding of human evolution implying that the small-brained Homo naledi had cognitive abilities usually associated with modern humans.
Paleoanthropologist John Hawks, a member of Berger’s team, said that the size of the brain does not really matter, “it’s how you use it and what it’s structured for”.
Controversy
Berger previously faced accusations of lacking scientific rigour and rushing to conclusions.
For Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Programm, “there is still a lot to uncover” as scientists have not yet been able to identify how old the engravings are. He added that the current evidence cannot confirm whether Homo naledi was the one to create the symbols or it was done some other species, maybe Homo sapiens, at a later point in time.
Bruno Maureille, paleoanthropologist at the French CNRS research institute, thinks that Berger may be moving too quickly.
“We are told that these are intentional burial sites. After reading the online papers, I would say that we need evidence that the living [Homo naledi] actually paid attention to what happened to their dead,” he told RFI.
“I’m not sure that having a skeleton or several skeletons next to each other is enough to claim that there was indeed a burial ritual at that time.”
Response
“If you don’t want to call it a grave, don’t call that a grave. But it’s a grave,” Berger responded.
“We are not exceptional!” he added to the media.
“Humans have got this narrative that our big brain supercharge us and make us different. A brain doesn’t make us whatever we are.
“We now see Homo naledi doing, 250,000 years ago, the things we held as the only thing we had left.”
All Dinaledi fossil material is available for study by researchers upon application to the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand where the material is curated.
