2023-06-24 17:06:13
By announcing that the first burials of the kind Homo would be at least 100,000 years older than the official dating, it is a heated new question which is raised in the scientific community. Why is the dating of the first burials such a complex question? What does this change in relation to the consideration of individuals from the past? An update on controversial news about Homo star.
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By announcing having discovered that thespecies Homo naledi buried his dead voluntarily 100,000 years before the current dating, the American paleo-anthropologist Lee Berger is opening a great debate between specialists in the history of Humanity. It is in South Africa that the site considered a burial place was spotted by Lee Berger and his team. Homo star was, meanwhile, discovered by the same researcher in 2013 and officially announced in 2015. It is a small hominin whose bone remains were spotted in the Rising Star caves.
Small size and complex dating
The first debate about Homo star focused on determining if it was more of an Australopithecus, or an early representative of the genus Homo. Probably measuring 1.50 meters with a small skull, everything remains to be determined concerning him although the dating stopped is between -335,000 and -241,000 years. In view of such ancient skeletons, it is nevertheless difficult to get an exact idea of the type of life led by these small individuals. They remain mysterious in many respects, in particular regarding their cerebral and cognitive abilities.
Bones and a natural slide
Already in 2015, Lee Berger and his team put forward the idea, supported again in 2023, of voluntary burial practices on the part of Homo star. Indeed, various chambers very difficult to access from the Rising Star site have made it possible to discover numerous bone fragments and the remains of individuals of all ages. One of the underground chambers being accessible only through a tiny hose for researchers. But, what could the chambers of these caves have looked like at the time ofHomo star ? For the researchers on the site, it is not a question of skeletons which would have been thrown by in the natural chimneys and whose bones would have found themselves scattered on the floor of the rooms but well of the bodies deposited carefully in fetal position in a place chosen by Homo naledi. This is where the scientific community is divided.
Announcements but no scientific articles yet
In the scientific world, announcements of discoveries and studies are made through standardized scientific articles which allow the whole community to know the methods and the reasons for the conclusions. This also makes it possible to open an official dialogue between scientists. However, the announcement of Lee Berger and his team has not yet been the subject of a publication criticized by peers, although a unvalidated item exists. Moreover, the media aspect of discovery through National Geographic questions the researchers as to the reliability and methods of the team on site.
By doing this, Lee Berger’s team will be able to explain why they believe that the holes dug in the floor of the tomb were potentially burials, why the engravings on the cave walls seem to them to be contemporary withHomo star or if it is later, and understand the meaning of the coals found burned on the spot. Indeed, burying a dead person does not necessarily mean that there is necessarily a ritual function around this act, and this is what is sometimes difficult to attest in archaeology, but even more so in paleo-anthropology.
What difference if Homo naledi buried his dead?
With regard to the official chronology, it is a huge leap that has been made in time compared to the official Paleolithic dating. This would suggest that individuals of the genus Homo nalendi would have had the brain capacity to envision a cure for their deaths, even a possible ritualization of that. This shatters the idea of prehistoric individuals incapable of reflection and of transposing themselves into dimensions other than their day-to-day. It would then no longer be a fact about genders alone. Homo the most recent. While some scientists do not reject the discovery, they are, on the other hand, waiting for solid evidence and sharp arguments to be able to consider the possibility of such funeral treatments.
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