In 2013, beneath the Durham Cathedral, a mass grave was found. Archaeologists watched carefully as construction on a café occurred beside the cathedral, ensuring the old church would remain unharmed. Instead, a more interesting archaeological event occurred. Under corner of the cathedral lay approximately 17 people of a mystery origin. (Durham University, 2018) Immediately, bioarcheologists collected and analyzed the remains. The goal of the bioarcheologists was to discover the context of death and burial. Due to location and the assumed time period, it was suspected that this grave was the result of the bubonic plague. This assumption had some merit, especially considering the pattern of the bones.

Figure 1: The placement of bodies in the grave. Retrieved from https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/forensic-archaeology-and-anthropology/0/steps/67915

The bodies appeared to be placed haphazardly, even thrown, into the grave. More analysis of the bones revealed linear scratches on the surface, consistent with the knowing of rodents. This evidence suggested an improper burial. (Gerrard, C. J. et al. (2018))

Further evidence revealed that all the remains were young men, most likely soldiers. Archaeologists at Durham University revealed that the remains were that of Scottish prisoners, known as the Durham Martyrs, of war, detained on the orders of Oliver Cromwell, an English soldier and statesman at the time of the English Civil Wars. It is estimated that 1,700 prisoners of war were buried in Durham, this find represents only a small portion of these casualties. (Mark Brown, 2015)

This discovery brought with it an abundance of ethical issues. The only bodies taken for examination were those disrupted by construction, but the excavation of the disrupted bodies caused questions of proper burial and repatriation. In 2015, the university of Durham announced they would be reburying the remains, but not in Scotland—the remains were to stay in Durham. This caused outrage, and campaigners rose up, urging the university to bury the bones in their native Scotland. Despite the controversy, the remains were buried in Durham. (Jody Harrison, 2016) Though the reburial provides an unethical example of reburial, and demonstrates the complications of ownership in archaeology, the archaeologists studying the Durham martyrs brought awareness to the English Civil War, and the plight of the soldiers. (Figure 2)

           Figure 2: The team of archaeologists at Durham University; Retrieved from https://spows.org/battle-of-dunbar/durham-university-scottish-soldiers-project-2/

Following the reburial in 2018, the University of Durham published an online course detailing the lives and deaths of the soldiers, and the role of archaeology in bringing their stories back to life.

References:

Anon. “An archaeological case study: The Scottish soldiers.” FutureLearn. Durham University. https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/forensic-archaeology-and-anthropology/0/steps/67915.

Brown, M. 2015. September 2. “Skeletons found near Durham Cathedral were Oliver Cromwell’s prisoners.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, September 2. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/02/skeletons-durham-cathedral-oliver-cromwell-prisoners.

Gerrard, C.M., R. Annis, A. Caffell, C.P. Graves, A. Millard, and J. Beaumont. 2018. Lost lives, new voices: Unlocking the stories of the Scottish soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar, 1650. Oxford, Englands: Oxbow Books.

Millard, A. 2022. April 25. “Durham University Scottish Soldiers Project.” Scottish Prisoners of War Society | Promoting knowledge of the Scottish prisoners from the Battles of Dunbar (1650) and Worcester (1651). Scottish Prisoners of War Society, April 25. https://spows.org/battle-of-dunbar/durham-university-scottish-soldiers-project-2/.

University, D. 2021. June 4. “A long way from home:” Scottish Soldiers – Durham University. June 4. https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/archaeology/research/archaeology-research-projects/scottish-soldiers/.

Further Reading

https://museumcrush.org/what-happened-to-the-scottish-soldiers-found-in-a-mass-grave-in-durham/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/remains-400-year-old-scottish-soldiers-will-be-reburied-england-180960270/

Netflix’s most recent release, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, received criticism for its lack of awareness for various social groups and for the affected families who had to relive a horrifying and traumatic experience. This post is not to reiterate Dahmer’s story in a way that wrongfully puts him in the spotlight; instead, the forensic anthropology and the bioarchaeology involved in the investigation will be emphasized to explore an issue that has been rooted in injustice. 

Figure 1. The timeline of Dahmer’s insidious murders which included eight Black males, one Asian male, and one White male. (Jentzen 2017) 

Because Dahmer’s case was largely characterized by extreme means of actions, the need for forensic anthropologists was constituted. Many things were discovered and investigated, and the primary takeaways consisted of detailing Dahmer’s motives and the commonalities between the victims in the case (Jentzen 2017). The work of forensic anthropologists allowed a larger issue, in the spectrum of law enforcement and race, to arise. Through the inhumane evidence that Dahmer left behind, the bioarchaeology of his victims was sought. It was revealed that a majority of his victims were neglected and vulnerable low-income minorities that came as a result of institutional racism in an impoverished Milwaukee location (Barnard 2000).

Figure 2. Jeffery Dahmer’s victim remains are carried away by toxicologists. 

The remains of Dahmer’s victims indicated that they were a part of social groups that were heavily looked down upon during that time; unfortunately, that is still the case today. One of Dahmer’s victims notoriously included 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone. Konerak managed to escape Dahmer’s apartment with obvious scathe, which a few neighbors of color noticed and called law enforcement. However, the police ignored the distress coming from the witnesses and the clear evidence coming in the form of bruises and blood from Konerak. They then returned the boy to Dahmer, who would eventually be murdered and discovered by forensic anthropologists at the time of Dahmer’s arrest (Barnard 2000). 

Other than the severity of Dahmer’s crimes, what also sparked national interest and anger is that the most disadvantaged groups (color and LGBTQ+) were the majority of the victims (Barnard 2000). In addition, the ignorance of the law added to support the fact that racial and social minority groups did not feel heard and supported. Forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeology played a role in making the truth real. It is upsetting to see that in the context of the past, human behavior is supposed to make a stride in being better for tomorrow. Unfortunately, however, the bioarchaeology of disadvantaged minority and social groups is the same as before. 

References 

Barnard, Ian. “The Racialization of Sexuality: The Queer Case of Jeffrey Dahmer.” Thamyris Overcoming Boundaries: Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality 7.1-2 (2000): 67-97. Print. 

Jentzen JM. Micro Disasters: The Case of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2017 Sep;7(3):444-452. doi: 10.23907/2017.037. Epub 2017 Sep 1. PMID: 31239993; PMCID: PMC6474573.

Further Reading 

Bagawan, Juanita. Study that claims white police no more likely to shoot minorities draws fire. https://www.science.org/content/article/study-claims-white-police-no-more-likely-shoot-minorities-draws-fire. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022. 

McEvoy, Jemima. Video of Police Ignoring Suspected Kenosha Shooter Sparks Calls of Injustice. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/08/26/video-of-police-ignoring-suspected-kenosha-shooter-sparks-calls-of-injustice/?sh=47e116e64f9b. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022. 

As technology develops the ability to accurately date archaeological artifacts develops at a similar rate. Early on in archaeology the only reliant method of dating was relative dating. One was able to relatively date by following the basic principle that the deeper something was in the ground the older it was. One could look at the different layers of the earth and create a chronological order of artifacts based on the layers of the earth that these artifacts resided in. Following the aforementioned principle, the deeper the artifact was the older it was, and one could create a sort of time line of artifacts using this idea.

-Figure 1: Image of artifacts in different layers of the earth. Organized chronologically.

All of this changed with the introduction of radio carbon dating. Radiocarbon dating lead the wave of absolute dating methods. It now gave archaeologists a way to accurately determine the specific age of an artifact. Radiocarbon dating was first introduced in 1949 by a team of scientists lead by the American Willard Libby. They found out that an isotope of carbon (14C specifically) decays at a constant rate. Applying this idea to dating methods, they concluded that measuring the remaining 14C in an artifact, it was possible to then date this said artifact (Archaeology World 2009:1). There were many flaws with Libby’s first method of radiocarbon but nevertheless it paved the way for future improvements and developments of radiocarbon dating. Now we have a more accurate idea of the half-life of 14C and we can give an accurate estimation of how old an artifact is.

The development of radiocarbon dating opened new doors for the dating of artifacts. Specifically, here in North America there were many improvements to the preconceived timeline of events in North America’s past. Take the Iroquois Nation for example. The Iroquois are a Native American group that inhabited the areas of Ontario Canada and upstate New York. They have a deep-rooted history in America and they left many artifacts behind for archaeologists of today to study. Many of these artifacts were found, examined, and dated pre-carbon dating. Even when these artifacts were found post-carbon dating, they were often dated using methods that produced an inaccurate timeline. The Dating Iroquoia project was developed to combat this issue, “A pilot study by Birch and Manning suggested that in one part of Northern Iroquoia, the existing ceramic chronology misplaced sites in time by as many as 50-100 years” (Dating Iroquoia 2017). They’re using absolute dating methods of radiocarbon dating to provide a more accurate chronological timeline of events in the Iroquois Nation. This will produce a more accurate history while bringing awareness to the Iroquois Nation.

-Figure 2: Image of an Iroquois artifact dated using radio carbon dating.

Further Readings:

https://theconversation.com/archaeologists-have-a-lot-of-dates-wrong-for-north-american-indigenous-history-but-were-using-new-techniques-to-get-it-right-129422

https://core.tdar.org/project/458840/dating-iroquoia

References:

Archaeology, C. W. (2018, September 18). Radiocarbon revolution. World Archaeology. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.world-archaeology.com/great-discoveries/radiocarbon-revolution/

Dating Iroquoia. (2017, October 11). Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://datingiroquoia.wordpress.com/about-the-project/

Stratigraphy and the laws of superposition – community archaeology program: Binghamton University. Community Archaeology Program – Binghamton University. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://www.binghamton.edu/programs/cap/educators/stratigraphy.html 

Bioarchaeology is defined as the analysis of past human remains to understand their larger culture (Renfrew and Bahn 2018, 249). These remains provide direct evidence about past peoples’ lives and can be used by archeologists to present new perspectives on cultural patterns and processes. For example, the archaeologists in 2014 who discovered the remains of a 35-40 year old man and 25-30 year old woman at La Almoloya (Figure 2), an archaeological site in Spain and a major settlement of the El Argar, were able to determine that women may have held greater power in early Bronze Age Europe than what was previously understood, challenging the notion that state power tends to nearly always be a result of patriarchal societies (Pinkowski 2021). 

Figure 1: The silver diadem found on the woman’s skull. Photograph by Mediterranean Social Archaeological Research Group, Autonomous University of Barcelona.

The woman at La Almoloya was buried with many valuables including bracelets, rings, a necklace, earlobe pugs, and a silver diadem (Figure 1) that still sat on her skull upon excavation, an artifact thought to be a symbol of power. She was ultimately dubbed the “Princess of La Almoloya.” The man, however, was not buried with anything that would have been considered precious. Instead, he was thought by archaeologists to be some sort of soldier. His bone wear suggested a lot of time spent on horseback, and his skull indicated “deep scars from a severe facial injury, possibly an old wound sustained in combat” (Metcalfe 2021).  Radiocarbon dating suggested that the two were buried around mid-17th century BCE, which was the height of El Argar’s development (Davis-Marks 2021). 

One puzzling discovery made by researchers through the analysis of Mitochondrial DNA was the lack of relationship between the adult women buried at La Almoloya. Of all 30 female genomes sequenced, not one was related to another. While some of these women did have children, they were otherwise unattached. One proposed explanation by Dr. Rihuete-Herrada, a co-author of the genetic study, was that women from different settlements “sent their daughters as an alliance with other groups that are run equally along female lines” (Pinkowski 2021). 

Figure 2: La Almoloya from a distance. Photograph by Mediterranean Social Archaeological Research Group, Autonomous University of Barcelona.

The theory that the community was ruled by the “Princess” is supported by previous archaeological findings, such as those gathered by archaeologist and historian Marina Lozano. Lozano conducted a study in 2020 that found many Argaric women were included in the production of wool textiles and linen and metallurgy, all significant economic contributions (Pinkowski 2021).

Through the use of bioarchaeology, archaeologists were able to uncover a truth about the past that had never been considered, shining a light on the ever changing nature of history and our understanding of it. The “Princess of La Almoloya” burial also demonstrates how when examining history, presumptions based on sex and gender roles cannot be made. If they are, true understanding of the past may never be achieved. 

Further reading:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/3-700-year-old-burial-site-suggests-female-rule-in-bronze-age-spain-1.5342922

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/science/bronze-age-tomb-women.html 

References: 

Davis-Marks, Isis. March 12, 2021. “Silver Diadem Found in Spain May Point to Bronze Age Woman’s Political Power.” Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-uncover-female-ruler-wearing-rare-diadem-180977220/. 

Metcalfe, Tom. March 10, 2021. “Ancient woman may have been powerful European leader, 4,000 year old evidence suggests.” National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/ancient-woman-powerful-european-leader-4000-year-old-treasure-suggests.  

Pinkowski, Jennifer. November 17, 2021. “You Should See Her in a Crown. Now You Can See Her Face.” New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/science/la-almoloya-spain.html. 

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn. 2018. Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods, and Practice. Fourth edition. Thames & Hudson. 230-250.

In September 2022, near Prague in the Czech Republic, archaeologists discovered the remains of a 7,000-year-old round structure, which is older than Stonehenge (Killgrove 2022). This type of circular building, commonly called a “roundel”, measures more than 50 meters in diameter. It is not the first time such remains have been excavated: the earliest roundel yet discovered, known as the Goseck Circle, was found in Germany in 1991 and measures 75 meters in diameter. A few hundreds of these types of structures have been discovered throughout Europe, especially in Central Europe where many farming communities gathered and built villages between 4900 B.C.E. and 4400 B.C.E, such as the people of the Stroked Pottery culture (Killgrove 2022).

This archaeological finding is representative of the progress of archaeological techniques over the past decades, with the popularization of drones and aerial photography. This type of archaeological survey is made up of two parts : first, data collection (drones are used to take aerial photographs of archaeological sites), and then data analysis (the images are analyzed and interpreted) (Renfrew 2018:70). In this case, from the sky, archaeologists observed that roundels consist of round ditches and concentric rings of holes, usually pierced by gates (Figure 1). Then, these features can be interpreted.

Figure 1: An aerial picture of the Prague roundel. (Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

According to archaeologists and researchers, the true function of these roundels is still unknown. As for the Goseck Circle, the placement of the gates seems important : since two of them correspond with “sunrise and sunset during the winter and summer solstices” (Killgrove 2022), they thought that it was an observatory just like Stonehenge (Biehl 2012). However, this is only a theory. Others are not as certain, preferring to say it had several purposes : it could have been serving as a trade center, or as a religious center where rituals were performed from time to time (Jacobs 2022). As for the Prague roundel, the researchers and Miroslav Kraus (director of the excavations) expressed their hope of actually discovering hints about the function of the building. Excavations are still underway, in order to understand its vertical stratification (Figure 2), which represents changes through times.

Figure 2: Stratigraphy of the excavation. (Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

With this process of excavation, archaeologists hope to find clues about the precise date of the construction of the mysterious structure and its purpose. Moreover, archaeologists also expect to find potential graves or tools that could give us more information about the people who built these buildings : since they only had wood and stones as tools, these roundels are surprising. However, although it sounds pessimistic, it is “unlikely since none of the previously researched roundels have revealed such information”, Miroslav Kraus said (Archaeology 2022).

Further Reading:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26272491?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://architecturecompetitions.com/4-simple-concepts-of-prehistoric-architecture

References:

1) Biehl, Peter. April 16, 2012. “Meanings and Functions of Enclosed Places in the European Neolithic: A Contextual Approach to Cult, Ritual, and Religion.” Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association. Volume 21, Issue 1: 130-146. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1551-8248.2012.01041.x

2) Jacobs, Harrison. September 23, 2022. “Archaeologists Discovered 7,000-Year-Old Structure Older Than Stonehenge or Pyramids of Giza.” ARTnews. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/archaeology-news-czech-roundel-older-stonehenge-giza-pyramids-1234640376/

4) September 12, 2022. “Footprint of a Prehistoric Structure Uncovered Near Prague.” Archaeology. https://www.archaeology.org/news/10822-220912-prague-vinor-structure

5) Renfrew, Colin & Bahn, Paul. November 26, 2018. Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods, and Practice. Chapter 3:70. Thames & Hudson, 4th edition.

Burial sites can reveal a lot about an individual’s identity and story. For instance, archaeologists excavated the site of Arma Veirana in Liguria and examined the opening of a trench found close to the Eastern cave wall. At this opening, a team of researchers at the University of Montreal discovered a burial of a female infant. DNA and tooth analyses indicate that she was most likely 50 days old when she was buried during the Early Mesolithic period (about 10,000 BCE) just after the last Ice Age. (Gravel-Miguel et al. 2022)

The leader of the team, Gravel-Miguel, remarked, “I was excavating in the adjacent square and remember looking over and thinking ‘that’s a weird bone.’ It quickly became clear that not only we were looking at a human cranium, but that it was also of a very young individual. It was an emotional day.” (Arizona State University, 2021)

These archaeologists not only unearthed the bones of the infant but ancient human ornaments as well. Typically, such ornaments are considered a means to express identity, including hierarchical status and gender, but they could also be utilized to protect one from evil spirits. The female infant was buried with numerous perforated shells and pendants, allowing researchers to uncover how early humans used these beads. Through various kinds of analyses, they concluded that the beads were in fact a part of the baby’s sling. (Gravel-Miguel et al. 2022)

An artistic representation of Neve’s burial, displaying the infant’s sling with the perforated beads attached.

Although there are no remains of the sling itself today, the surrounding shells in the burial site are perforated in such a way that suggests someone threaded the shells together and then sewed them on a type of textile or animal hide. Another result of the analyses is that the shells were heavily worn down, and therefore, they were likely worn by other community members before being attached to the sling (Heinrich, 2022). The purpose of the sling was likely in order to keep the infant near her parents while simultaneously allowing them to move around (Gravel-Miguel et al. 2022).

The anatomical parts of the shells that were sewn on the sling. The blue outline on the dorsal side describes the general area of most of the perforations.

Furthermore, the research team proposed that the infant’s community might have adorned her sling with beads primarily to defend her against evil. As her death indicated that those beads had failed their purpose of protecting her, however, the community thought it ideal to bury the sling instead of reusing it. (Heinrich, 2022)

Since the 2017 excavation, archaeologists named the buried infant “Neve”, and dental analysis of her teeth implies she is the “oldest female child buried in Europe” (Cassella, 2022). New research and future studies emphasize the means of childcare during prehistory and the possible use (and reuse) of beads for protecting community members and strengthening social connections within the tribes (Heinrich, 2022).

Reference Links:
Gravel-Miguel, C., Cristiani, E., Hodgkins, J. et al. The Ornaments of the Arma Veirana Early Mesolithic Infant Burial. J Archaeol Method Theory (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09573-7

Heinrich, J. (2022, September 26). Bringing up baby, 10,000 years ago. udemnouvelles. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2022/09/26/bringing-up-baby-10-000-years-ago/

Cassella, C. (2022, September 29). Ancient Burial of a Young Girl Shows How We Carried Our Babies 10,000 Years Ago. ScienceAlert. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-burial-of-a-young-girl-shows-how-we-carried-our-babies-10000-years-ago

Arizona State University. (2021, December 14). Earliest adorned female infant burial in Europe significant in understanding evolution of personhood. Phys.org. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://phys.org/news/2021-12-earliest-adorned-female-infant-burial.html

Additional Content:
Hodgkins, J., Orr, C.M., Gravel-Miguel, C. et al. An infant burial from Arma Veirana in northwestern Italy provides insights into funerary practices and female personhood in early Mesolithic Europe. Sci Rep 11, 23735 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02804-z

Martinón-Torres, M., d’Errico, F., Santos, E. et al. Earliest known human burial in Africa. Nature 593, 95–100 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8

In the mid-1950’s, a team of researchers from Columbia University found Neanderthal remains inside Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan (Figure 1). The main excavations of the site were done in Shanidar cave from 1956 to 1961, and 11 Neanderthal remains have been found that date back to 35,000 to 65,000 years (Sissakian, 2019). One of the skeletons, known as Shanidar 4, was debated to have been buried in a “flower burial”. Another skeleton known as Shanidar 1 displayed evidence of disabling injuries, which suggested care for group members with debilitating injuries. Though there is debate about the burial of Shanidar 4, Shanidar Cave still shines a light on the behavior of Neanderthals and our knowledge of the species (Pomeroy, 2020).

Figure 1: A photo of the entrance to Shanidar Cave. Retrieved from https://www.science.org.

Another discovery of the burial of a small child in a cave in Kenya (Figure 2) has been thought to have been the oldest human burial in Africa, dating back to roughly 78,000 years ago. The child was thought to be about 3 years old at the time of death, and was buried curled up in a shallow grave. Portions of the child’s skeleton have been found in 2013, however, the actual burial site wasn’t discovered until 2017. It was also discovered that the child had been tightly shrouded in its position, showing deliberate preparation. The site was dated using a method known as luminescence dating (Ronen, 2012). Luminescence dating is a method used in archaeology and the earth sciences and has an age range of about a century or less to over one hundred thousand years (Aberystwyth University, 2008).

Figure 2: Photo of Panga ya Saidi Cave in Kenya. Retreived from https://www.indiatoday.in.

Despite being the oldest human burial in Africa, the oldest burial was found in Israel, dating back to about 130,000 years ago. Two populations, modern humans and Neanderthals, are associated with the total of about 40 individuals found buried. The practices of the two populations are similar, consisting of placing the corpse in a prepared pit, occasionally alongside grave goods, then filling the pit. There are also signs of the protection of the corpses from scavenging animals. Occasionally, stones were placed on the skeleton or on top of the pit after it had been filled in. The two most common types of objects used as grave goods were animal parts and symbolic objects. The fact that these individuals were buried intentionally occasionally with objects shows that these burials were not just to dispose of a dead body, but were intentionally done out of respect, as it had no clear benefit in the material world of quest for food, shelter, or defense (Ronen, 2012).

Overall, there are many different ways that humans have buried their dead over the years, as we have been practicing the act of burying the dead for hundreds of thousands of years. Early humans bury their dead despite it costing resources that could be used to prolong the survival of the group. This shows that early humans and even Neanderthals had the same if not similar capability to feel as we do now.

References:

Biovin, Nicole. “Oldest Human Burial in Africa.” Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 5 May 2021, https://www.mpg.de/16809187/0429-wisy-oldest-human-burial-in-africa-9347732-x. 

Culotta, Elizabeth. “New Remains Discovered at Site of Famous Neanderthal ‘Flower Burial’.” Science, 22 Jan. 2019, https://www.science.org/content/article/new-remains-discovered-site-famous-neanderthal-flower-burial.

Guidelines on Using Luminescence Dating in Archaeology. 2008, https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/media/departmental/dges/pdf/english_heritage_luminescence_dating.pdf. 

Pomeroy, Emma, et al. “New Neanderthal Remains Associated with the ‘Flower Burial’ at Shanidar Cave: Antiquity.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 18 Feb. 2020, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/new-neanderthal-remains-associated-with-the-flower-burial-at-shanidar-cave/E7E94F650FF5488680829048FA72E32A. 

Reuters. “Child’s Grave at 78,000-Year-Old Burial Site Tells of Early Man’s Emotional Life: Kenyan Archaeologist.” India Today, 13 May 2021, https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/child-grave-at-kenya-oldest-burial-site-tells-of-emotions-1801960-2021-05-13.

Ronen, Avraham. “The Oldest Burials and Their Significance (Chapter 27) – African Genesis.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 5 Apr. 2012, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/african-genesis/oldest-burials-and-their-significance/1B10F74654E37D2BC17D34C79E819134.

Sissakian, Varoujan K. “Shanidar Cave – an Interesting Archaeological Site in the Kurdistan …” Shanidar Cave – An Interesting Archaeological Site in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, UKH Journal of Science and Engineering, 27 Dec. 2019, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338205868_Shanidar_Cave_-_An_Interesting_Archaeological_Site_in_the_Kurdistan_Region_Iraq.

Further Reading:

https://thekurdishproject.org/history-and-culture/kurdish-history/historical-sites-in-kurdistan/shanidar-cave/

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/may/oldest-human-burial-in-africa-discovered-in-kenya.html