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Jena / Nairobi (dpa / th) - The oldest known burial of a person in Africa has been proven by researchers in the Panga ya Saidi cave system in southeastern Kenya.
The child's skeleton in the grave is around 78,000 years old, reported the Max Planck Institute for the History of Human History in Jena.
Based on the position of the bones in particular, it was concluded that the roughly two-and-a-half to three-year-old child, who was called "Mtoto" (Swahili for child) by the scientists, was inferred.
With knees drawn up and the upper body bent forward, the child lying on its side was buried in a shallow pit, the researchers describe their findings in the specialist magazine "Nature".
The site in the Panga ya Saidi cave system north of the port city of Mombasa does not prove the world's earliest burial of a person.
In both Europe and Asia, burial sites up to 120,000 years old have been discovered for Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and other human forms.
The lack of comparable old finds in Africa was “puzzling”, according to the Max Planck Institute for the History of Man.
Possible reasons could be different burial practices or a lack of relevant field research in large parts of Africa.
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The current discovery has a long history: As early as 2013, during excavations, parts of the bones lying about three meters below the current floor of the cave were discovered, it was said.
"Mtoto" was not fully uncovered until 2017.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210506-99-489890 / 2
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Communication from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Man