Researcher Lee Berger and his team announce that in South Africa, certain sets of fossils of an ancient cousin of Man actually form the oldest graves in prehistory, sparking skepticism from other experts.
A new controversy is rocking the world of paleontology: in a series of articles that have yet to be peer-reviewed before publication, scientists claim to have made far-reaching discoveries in South Africa: researcher Lee Berger and his team announce that certain sets of fossils of an ancient cousin of Man, Homo Naledi, which they have been studying for ten years, in fact form the oldest tombs of prehistory.
>> IN PICTURES. The bones of “Homo naledi”, which could be from an ancient human species, discovered in South Africa
Perhaps the first traces of funerary practices
The discovery was made in the area dubbed the “Cradle of Humankind”, northwest of Johannesburg. It is above all fossils found from 2017, in two places in the network of galleries in the limestone cave of “Rising Star”, which fascinate scientists: the arrangement of bones and rocks makes Lee Berger say that these remains of the species Homo Naledi, were placed there intentionally, and that these are therefore the first traces of funerary practices.
Discovered in alcoves buried at the end of a network of narrow galleries, about thirty meters underground, the explorers noted that the tombs had been filled in with the earth dug at the start to form the holes, proof according to them that the bodies of these pre-humans were deliberately buried in the fetal position and curled up.
These supposed South African burials date from 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years before those of Homo Sapiens. In addition, symbols found engraved on the walls would also be marks left deliberately.
A controversial explorer
This discovery would upset the paleontological certainties that attribute these funerary practices to modern man. The oldest tombs discovered so far, notably in the Near East and Kenya, date from around 100,000 years before our era and contain the remains of Homo sapiens. But other researchers urge caution. If they recognize the importance of the discovery of these fossils, they also criticize the lack of solidity of the evidence advanced to affirm that this is, without a doubt, a voluntary burial.
This is not the first time that Lee Berger, this 57-year-old American explorer and scientist based in South Africa, has caused a sensation. In the space of fifteen years, this 57-year-old paleoanthropologist has discovered two new species of hominids and distant cousins of man, attracting numerous criticisms from the environment, often accused of cutting corners, of announcing revolutions before to have completely dated the fossils, and more generally to shake up scientific rigor, when others consolidate a hypothesis for 20 or 30 years before advancing a theory.