Ritual burial of 3-year-old found after 78,000 years

The arrangement of surviving bone fragments indicates that the body was placed on its side with legs drawn up to its chest, the study found. These features – along with evidence that the body was rapidly covered and decomposed, indicating that the burial was intentional.

The child was buried in a shallow grave pit beneath the sheltered overhang of the cave. Analysis showed they were buried quite quickly after their death and decomposed in the pit.

Scientists have found the oldest-known human burial in Africa, the continent that gave rise to our species, dating to about 78,000 years ago at a cave site called ‘Panga ya Saidi’ near the Kenyan coast.

They nicknamed the youngster 'Mtoto,' meaning 'child' in Swahili.

Though there are no signs of offerings or ochre, both common at more recent burial sites, the treatment given the child suggests a complex ritual that probably required the participation of many members of the child's community.

Professor María Martinón, director at CENIEH labs which helped analyze the body, said: "the position and collapse of the head in the pit suggested that a perishable support may have been present, such as a pillow, indicating that the community may have undertaken some form of the funerary rite.”

Studying the bones of the child in a lab in Spain disclosed that it is the oldest known human burial in Africa but not the world.

Human bones of a mother and child found at Qafzeh cave in Nazareth, Israel, are thought to be evidence of a ritual burial 90,000 to 100,000 years ago.

Other burials in Europa and Asia date back 120,000 years and are associated with Neanderthals as well as Homo sapiens.