Researchers have discovered the earliest deliberate cremation in Africa, dating to 9,500 years ago

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—A new study* presents what may be the earliest known intentional cremation in Africa to date. The evidence shows that, roughly 9,500 years ago, hunter-gatherers came together to build a pyre and arrange the body of a small female for cremation. Uncovered in present-day Malawi, the event signifies that these people undertook elaborate, communal mortuary practices. Traces of deliberate cremation are rare in hunter-gatherer groups prior to the mid-Holocene. Until now, the oldest cremations – confirmed by the presence of a pyre alongside additional indicators – have dated back to roughly 3,300 years ago during the Pastoral Neolithic. Now, Jessica Cerezo-Román and colleagues have uncovered a prehistoric pyre containing a small adult female’s remains that bear osteological marks of perimortem defleshing and post-burn manipulation. The discovery portrays a meticulously planned event performed by African hunter-gatherers roughly 9,500 years ago at the Hora 1 site. Spatial reconstructions of the site further revealed that the society revisited the location afterwards and built more large fires. This suggests the group not only invested in communal burial rituals, but also maintained a longer tradition based on their shared memory of the event. “These practices emphasize complex mortuary and ritual activities with origins predating the advent of food production, and challenge traditional assumptions about community-scale cooperation and memory-making in tropical hunter-gatherer societies,” Cerezo-Román et al. write.

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