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Thursday 6 May 2021

Give it time



A glimpse of human grief, at the loss of a child 78,000 years ago, has been revealed in the discovery of the oldest burial site in Africa.

The Middle Stone Age grave - of a three-year-old child - was found in a cave in Kenya.

In a paper in the journal Nature, the researchers who studied the fragile, ancient remains described how its head appeared to have been laid on a pillow.

Scientists have named the child Mtoto, meaning "the kid" in Swahili.


Horribly cynical to suggest it, but one day are we likely to see a claim that this child's people probably invented writing, poetry and representational art? Give it time.

3 comments:

MrMC said...

Was anyone kneeling on its neck after it nicked a joint of mammoth ? give it time

Sam Vega said...

Maybe smothered with a pillow? I believe infanticide was relatively common in human societies up until recently.

A K Haart said...

MrMC - good question. The court case will need to be imaginative though.

Sam - or some other kind of sacrifice, but the BBC likes a sentimental angle.