Work

Burials and engravings in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications

Year: 2023

Type: preprint

Abstract: Data from recent explorations in the Dinaledi subsystem illustrates one of the earliest examples of a mortuary practice in hominins and offers the earliest evidence of multiple interments and funerary actions, as well as evidence of the early creation of meaning making by a hominin. The hominin undertaking these behaviors was the small-brained Homo naledi. These data call into question several key assumptions about behavioral and cognitive evolution in Pleistocene hominins. The evidence from Dinaledi push back the temporal origins of mortuary and funerary behaviors and associate the creation of meaning making with a small-brained species and thus challenge key assumptions about the role and importance of encephalization in human evolution. This suggests that the hominin socio-cognitive niche and its relation to meaning-making activities is more diverse than previously thought. The association of these activities in subterranean spaces accessed and modified by the small brained species Homo naledi impacts assertations that technological and cognitive advances in human evolution are associated solely with the evolution of larger brains.

Source: eLife

DOI: 10.7554/elife.89125.1

Authors: Agustin Fuentes, Marc Kissel, Penny Spikins, Keneiloe Molopyane, John Hawks, Lee R. Berger

Institutions: Princeton University, Appalachian State University, University of York, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Carnegie Institution for Science, National Geographic Society

Language: English

Topic: Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,500

Funders: John Templeton Foundation, National Geographic Society, Princeton University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lyda Hill Foundation, Fulbright Association, Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa, National Research Foundation

OpenAlex ID: W4384030495

Cites: 45

Cited by: 17

Related to: 10