{"id":667641,"date":"2026-01-01T21:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/667641\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T21:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:40:12","slug":"cremation-pyre-in-africa-thought-to-be-worlds-oldest-containing-adult-remains-anthropology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/667641\/","title":{"rendered":"Cremation pyre in Africa thought to be world\u2019s oldest containing adult remains | Anthropology"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cremation pyre built about 9,500 years ago has been discovered in Africa<\/a>, offering a fresh glimpse into the complexity of ancient hunter-gatherer communities.<\/p>\n

Researchers say the pyre, discovered in a rock shelter at the foot of Mount Hora in northern Malawi<\/a>, is thought to be the oldest in the world to contain adult remains, the oldest confirmed intentional cremation in Africa, and the first pyre to be associated with African hunter-gatherers.<\/p>\n

In total 170 individual human bone fragments \u2013 apparently from an adult woman just under 1.5 metres (5ft) tall \u2013 were discovered in two clusters during excavations in 2017 and 2018, with layers of ash, charcoal and sediment.<\/p>\n

The research team excavating and mapping the pyre. Photograph: Grace Veatch<\/p>\n

However, the woman\u2019s skull was missing, while cut marks suggest some bones were separated at the joints, and flesh was removed, before the body was burned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no evidence to suggest that they were doing any kind of violent act or cannibalism to the remains,\u201d said Dr Jessica Cerezo-Rom\u00e1n of the University of Oklahoma, who led the study. Instead, she said, body parts might have been removed as part of a funerary ritual, perhaps to be carried as tokens.<\/p>\n

Dr Jessica Thompson, a senior author of the study from Yale University, said that, while such practices may not seem relatable, people still keep locks of hair or relatives\u2019 ashes for scattering in a meaningful place.<\/p>\n

The researchers said the rock shelter appears to have been used as a natural monument, with burials occurring from about 16,000 to 8,000 years ago. As well as complete skeletons, very small collections of bones from different individuals have been found.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This] supports our hypothesis that some of the missing bones from the cremated woman may have been deliberately removed and taken as tokens for curation or reburial elsewhere,\u201d said Dr Ebeth Sawchuk, a co-author of the study from the University of Alberta.<\/p>\n

The team also found flakes and points from stone-knapping within the pyre, which might have been added as part of a funeral ritual.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere people actively throwing these things into the fire or \u2026 were they in the body itself?\u201d said Thompson. Cerezo-Rom\u00e1n said one possibility is that people were knapping stones to cut the woman\u2019s flesh.<\/p>\n

The team also found the pyre was about the size of a queen-sized mattress, and would have taken considerable knowledge, skill and coordination to build and maintain, while the two clusters of bones indicate the body was moved during cremation.<\/p>\n

While it is unclear why the woman was given such special treatment, the team found at least one fire was subsequently made directly above the location of the pyre \u2013 possibly as an act of remembrance.<\/p>\n

However, the site also has evidence of multiple campfires, with Thompson noting it is likely the shelter would also have been used for daily life.<\/p>\n

Sharp points of grey flint and rock from stone-knapping found in the pyre. Photograph: Justin Pargeter<\/p>\n

Writing in the journal Science Advances<\/a>, the team note the oldest known pyre containing human remains was previously found in Alaska, and dates to about 11,500 years ago \u2013 however, that was for a young child.<\/p>\n

Indeed, most burned human remains dating back 8,000 years or more have not been found in a pyre, and prior to the latest find the earliest confirmed intentional cremations in Africa only appeared about 3,500 years ago, among pastoral Neolithic people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thompson said the discovery that different people merited different treatment in death \u201csuggests that in life, they also would have had a lot more complexity to their social roles than I ever imagined, or that certainly is stereotypically described for tropical hunter-gatherers, especially this old\u201d.<\/p>\n

Joel Irish, a professor of anthropology and archaeology at Liverpool John Moores University, who was not involved in the work, welcomed the discovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat it is such an early date, and that they would have been transient as hunter-gatherers makes it more amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey clearly had advanced belief systems and a high level of social complexity at this early date.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cremation pyre built about 9,500 years ago has been discovered in Africa, offering a fresh glimpse into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-667641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115822016894954177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}