From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo
https://elifesciences.org/articles/89106
Sep 1, 2025
Abstract
In this study, we describe new results of
excavations in the Dinaledi Subsystem of the
Rising Star cave system, South Africa. In two
areas within the Hill Antechamber and the
Dinaledi Chamber, this work uncovered
concentrations of abundant Homo naledi fossils
including articulated, matrix-supported
skeletal regions consistent with rapid
covering by sediment prior to the
decomposition of soft tissue. We additionally
re-examine the spatial positioning of skeletal
material and associated sediments within the
Puzzle Box area, from which abundant H. naledi
remains representing a minimum of six
individuals were recovered in 2013 and 2014.
Multiple lines of evidence exclude the
hypothesis that skeletal remains from these
three areas come from bodies that decomposed
on the floor of the chamber or within a
shallow depression prior to burial by
sediments. The spatial positioning of skeletal
material, the topography of the subsystem, and
observations on sediments within and
surrounding features exclude the hypothesis
that rapid burial by sediment was a result of
gravity-driven slumping or spontaneous movement
of sediments. We present a minimal hypothesis
of hominin cultural burial and test the
evidence from all three areas, finding that
this hypothesis is most compatible with the
pattern of evidence. These results suggest that
mortuary behavior, including cultural burial,
was part of the repertoire of Homo naledi.
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