Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Infant Burial By Early Modern Humans
Vienna (Austria), 27 November: The analysis of two burial sites of three infants, dated at 27,000 years old, is reported in a Brief Communication in this week's Nature. Two of the babies, estimated to have died shortly after birth and probably twins, were found together. A third, thought to have died after less than three months, was found one meter away.
The well-preserved burials were recovered as ‘blocks’ and analyzed by laser scanning and computer imaging. Christine Neugebauer-Maresch and colleagues believe that the pair of skeletons found together, embedded in red ochre, are twins because their thigh bones are of equal size, indicating they were the same age at death. Their bodies were covered with a mammoth shoulder bone (scapula) supported by part of a tusk, and one of the babies was decorated with over 30 ivory beads.
The burials represent the first findings of such young individuals from the Upper Palaeolithic period and add to the sparse Palaeolithic human remains found so far in Europe. The researchers write that the evidence for ritual burial activities, including the use of red ochre and decoration, indicates that even infantswere important members of these hunter-gatherer communities. They also argue that the fossils of these extremely young individuals will contribute valuable insights into the development of early modern humans.
(ResearchSEA)
The well-preserved burials were recovered as ‘blocks’ and analyzed by laser scanning and computer imaging. Christine Neugebauer-Maresch and colleagues believe that the pair of skeletons found together, embedded in red ochre, are twins because their thigh bones are of equal size, indicating they were the same age at death. Their bodies were covered with a mammoth shoulder bone (scapula) supported by part of a tusk, and one of the babies was decorated with over 30 ivory beads.
The burials represent the first findings of such young individuals from the Upper Palaeolithic period and add to the sparse Palaeolithic human remains found so far in Europe. The researchers write that the evidence for ritual burial activities, including the use of red ochre and decoration, indicates that even infantswere important members of these hunter-gatherer communities. They also argue that the fossils of these extremely young individuals will contribute valuable insights into the development of early modern humans.
(ResearchSEA)
# posted by mediabhartiwebsolutions @ 4:26 AM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]