GS TIMES STAFF
The earliest known human burial in Africa has been found Kenya which belongs to a child laid carefully to rest in a grave nearly 80,000 years ago.
- A cluster of bones remains belong to a Middle Stone Age child believed to have been between 2.5 and 3 years old was found from the Panga ya Saidi cave complex in coastal southeast Kenya.
- The toddler, whose bones were discovered, was nicknamed Mtoto (“child” in Swahili) by the scientists.
- The burial discovery, as published in the journal Nature, will shed light on how our ancient ancestors interacted with the dead.
- According to the scientists, the child appears to have been prepared for a tightly shrouded burial, placed on one side with knees drawn toward the chest.
- The position of the child’s head suggests it rested on some sort of support, like a pillow. That indicates the community may have performed a mourning rite.
