A 9,500-year-old cremation pyre discovered in a rock shelter in northern Malawi is thought to be the oldest in the world to contain adult remains, offering new insights into the rituals of ancient African hunter-gatherers. The pyre, found at the foot of Mount Hora, contained 170 bone fragments from an adult woman under 1.5 metres tall, with her skull notably missing.
Cut marks on the bones suggest that flesh was removed and some joints were separated before burning, though researchers rule out violence or cannibalism. Dr Jessica Cerezo-Román of the University of Oklahoma, who led the study, said body parts may have been removed as part of a funerary ritual, possibly to be carried as tokens. Dr Jessica Thompson of Yale University added that such practices echo modern traditions of keeping locks of hair or scattering ashes.
The rock shelter appears to have been used as a natural monument for burials from about 16,000 to 8,000 years ago. Alongside the cremated remains, small collections of bones from different individuals were found, supporting the hypothesis that some bones were deliberately removed and curated elsewhere, according to co-author Dr Ebeth Sawchuk of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
The pyre, about the size of a queen-sized mattress, would have required considerable skill to build and maintain. Stone flakes and points found within it may have been added as part of the funeral ritual or used to cut the woman's flesh. At least one fire was later made directly above the pyre site, possibly as an act of remembrance.
Writing in the journal Science Advances, the team note that the oldest previously known pyre containing human remains was found in Alaska dating to 11,500 years ago, but that was for a child. In Africa, the earliest confirmed intentional cremations were previously only about 3,500 years old. Professor Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University, who was not involved in the study, said the discovery indicates that these hunter-gatherers had advanced belief systems and high social complexity at such an early date.
