As early as 2010, archaeologists began investigating the Panga ya Saidi cave site in Kenya.

After three years, they discovered for the first time the place where "Mtoto", which means child in Swahili, has been preserved for thousands of years.

It shows new research presented in Nature. 

Clear evidence of burial

The archaeologists saw that the place where Mtoto lay was the earth different in color and texture.

They immediately took samples to see if anything interesting was hiding under the ground.

The analysis was able to reveal that the soil contained remains of broken bones and after further excavation, skeletal parts were also found after a child's body.

- Here is the clear evidence that it is a burial because you can see that the stratigraphy, ie the sequence of layers in the earth, is broken.

It can be seen that someone has dug into it, explains Anders Götherström, archaeologist and geneticist at Stockholm University.

The large cave system Panga ya Saidi in southeastern Kenya.

Photo: Mohammed Javad Shoaee

Dental tests show age and genus

Dental tests can tell that the child was about 3 years old when it died and of the genus Homo sapiens.

The examinations on the skeleton indicate that the body was wrapped in something when it was buried.

It also seems that the skull has rested on something like a pillow.

Similar burials have previously been discovered in South Africa and Egypt.

A Border Cave in South Africa was discovered in 1941 and the remains are dated to be approximately 74,000 years old.

According to the researchers who made the discovery in Panga ya Saidi, however, there is not as much information about it nearby as about Mtoto. 

- This will probably lead to more research, for example in West Africa where it is poorly researched.

The question is how close we can get to the way that was thought of 78,000 years ago, says Anders Götherström.