Cremation pyre in Africa thought to be world's oldest containing adult remains

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Archaeologists Discover 9,500-Year-Old Cremation Pyre with Adult Remains in Africa, Challenging Ancient Hunter-Gatherer Stereotypes.

In an exciting archaeological find, researchers have unearthed the remains of a cremation pyre built around 9,500 years ago in northern Malawi. The discovery has sent shockwaves through the academic community, offering a fresh glimpse into the lives of ancient hunter-gatherer communities and challenging long-held stereotypes about their social complexity.

The pyre, discovered at the foot of Mount Hora, contains 170 individual human bone fragments from an adult woman estimated to be around 5ft tall. The remains were found in two clusters during excavations in 2017 and 2018, with layers of ash, charcoal, and sediment surrounding them. Notably, the woman's skull was missing, while cut marks on some bones suggest that flesh was removed before the body was cremated.

Dr Jessica Cerezo-Román, leader of the study from the University of Oklahoma, believes that the woman's remains may have been deliberately removed as part of a funerary ritual. "There is no evidence to suggest that they were doing any kind of violent act or cannibalism to the remains," she said. Instead, it's possible that body parts were taken as tokens for curation or reburial elsewhere.

The discovery has significant implications for our understanding of ancient hunter-gatherer societies in Africa. While cremation pyres are rare and often associated with pastoral Neolithic communities dating back around 3,500 years, this find pushes the timeline forward by nearly 6,000 years.

Dr Jessica Thompson from Yale University highlights that the complexity of social roles among these ancient communities may have been more intricate than previously thought. "The discovery that different people merited different treatment in death suggests that in life, they also would have had a lot more complexity to their social roles than I ever imagined," she said.

The study's findings are also notable for the advanced belief systems and social organization of these early hunter-gatherers. Joel Irish from Liverpool John Moores University notes that the discovery "suggests that they clearly had advanced belief systems and a high level of social complexity at this early date."
 
🔥 THIS IS SO COOL!!! I MEAN, 9,500 YEARS AGO THEY WERE BURNING THEIR DEAD AND REMOVING FLESH FROM THE BONES?! IT'S LIKE THEY HAD SOME KIND OF RITUAL OR SOMETHING! 😲 I MEAN, WE ALWAYS THINK OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS AS BEING SUPER COMPLEX AND STUFF BUT THIS IS TAKING IT TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL. 🔍 I'M EXCITED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR BELIEFS AND SOCIETY. IT'S LIKE A TIME CAPSULE OR SOMETHING! 🕰️
 
so I gotta say, 9k yrs old is ages ago, but still kinda weird to think about these ancient ppl doing cremation rituals... 🤔 like, i get why they're trying to debunk the whole cannibalism thing, but can't help wondering if there's more to it than just token stuff 😂. also, 5ft tall is pretty standard for adult females in ancient Malawi, so maybe not as revolutionary as the researchers are making it out to be 🙃. still cool that we're learning more about these hunter-gatherer societies and their social dynamics... 👏
 
🤯 so this 9,500 year old cremation pyre thing is mind blown... I mean, we've always thought of ancient hunter gatherers as just nomadic tribes living off the land, but it looks like they were actually pretty complex societies with their own funerary rituals and social hierarchy. The fact that they had different levels of treatment for death suggests there was a lot more going on beneath the surface. And that they might have had advanced belief systems too? It's wild to think about how much we've been missing out on by relying on these outdated stereotypes 🤔💀
 
I gotta say, this 9,500 year old cremation pyre find is blowing my mind 😲! I mean, we've always been taught that ancient hunter-gatherers were all about nomadic tribes living off the land, but this new discovery in Malawi is showing us a whole different side of things. It's like, they had some serious social complexity and ritual practices going on, with cremation pyres being a thing way before we thought it was 😳.

And can you believe they found 170 individual bone fragments from one woman? That's wild! The fact that her skull is missing and there are cut marks on the bones suggests that flesh was removed before she was burned, which is pretty intense 💀. It's making me wonder what other secrets these ancient communities were hiding.

I'm loving how this discovery is challenging our stereotypes about hunter-gatherers. We thought they were all just surviving on their own, but it looks like they had some level of organization and social hierarchy going on 🤯. It's giving me life!
 
🤗 I'm so impressed by this groundbreaking find! It's amazing to think about an ancient community that was capable of such complex rituals and belief systems. The idea that someone 9,500 years ago might have removed body parts as tokens for a funerary ritual is just mind-blowing 🤯... I mean, can you imagine being part of something so different from what we consider "normal" today? It's a beautiful reminder that our understanding of the past is always evolving and that there's still so much to learn about human history. 💡 What do you think this discovery will change in how we see hunter-gatherer communities? 🤔
 
🤔 I'm not buying it just yet... 9,500 years old? That's a pretty big gap to bridge. How do we know these remains aren't from some later ritual or disturbance? And what about the skull? If they were removing flesh as part of a funerary ritual, why would they leave the skull behind? I need to see some actual proof, not just "it's possible" and "it suggests". Where are the DNA tests? The radiocarbon dating? Let's get down to business before we start rewriting history books 😒
 
🤯 This find is low-key mind-blowing, you know? Like, 9,500 years ago, we were thinking these hunter-gatherer societies were all about survival mode only... but nope, they had their own pyres, rituals, and even social hierarchy. It's wild to think that someone was removed from the body before cremation - maybe it was like a token or something? 🌿 And can you believe this changes our understanding of ancient Africa so much? I mean, we're not just talking about pastoral communities now... there's more complexity to these societies than we initially thought. 💥 It's crazy how archaeology is always revealing new things and challenging our assumptions.
 
🤯 just learned about this ancient cremation pyre in Malawi with 9,500 yr old remains and I'm freaking out 😲 what's crazy is how it challenges these hunter-gatherer stereotypes - like they were all one big happy family or something. But nope, turns out some people got special treatment at death, which is wild 🤯. And it makes you wonder about their social hierarchy and beliefs. Like, did they have shamans or something? 💫
 
I'm not surprised to see another ancient civilization that's gonna mess with our preconceived notions about humans being all savage & primitive. I mean, come on, cremation pyres in Africa 9,500 years ago? That's some advanced stuff right there... or is it just an attempt to hide the fact that they were actually pretty brutal?

And what's with this "deliberately removed" thing? Just because they took body parts as tokens doesn't mean they weren't also practicing some form of cannibalism. We'll never know for sure, but I'm not buying the whole "funerary ritual" excuse. And another thing, if these ancient humans were so advanced with their social roles & belief systems, why did we only just find out about it now?

It's always like this when archaeologists stumble upon some old bones – they'll spin it in any way to make us feel better about our own supposed superiority. Newsflash: humans have been messed up for thousands of years.
 
this is mind blowin 🤯, i never thought we knew so much about people who lived like 9,500 years ago. it's wild to think that hunter-gatherer communities were more complicated than we thought, with different people getting different treatment when they died. i'm curious what other things we don't know about our ancient ancestors 🤔.

i'm also kinda surprised that body parts were taken from the woman before she was cremated. it sounds like there might have been some kind of ritual going on 🕊️. but it's also good to see that nobody thinks this means they did anything violent, like cannibalism or whatever 😐.

anyway, i think this is a pretty big deal for archaeology and stuff 🤓. it's nice to see scientists learning new things and having to re-think what we thought we knew about history 📚.
 
🤓 So, I'm reading about this ancient cremation pyre in Malawi that's like, 9,500 years old? And apparently, it challenges our whole idea of hunter-gatherer communities being super primitive. Newsflash: they weren't! 😊 I mean, come on, a sophisticated enough society to build a cremation pyre with ash and charcoal? That's some advanced stuff right there.

And get this - the woman found in the pyre is estimated to be around 5ft tall, which is way taller than I thought hunter-gatherers were. I'm guessing that's because the media loves to perpetuate those "tiny, primitive people" stereotypes 🙄. Not exactly what we'd expect from a society that's been hiding in plain sight.

The more I read about this discovery, the more I think our ancient ancestors were actually pretty cool. They had some serious social game going on, and it's awesome to see that they were experimenting with different ways of dealing with death. Who knows? Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them 🤔.
 
🤯 I just saw this article about some ancient cremation pyre in Malawi that's like 9,500 years old... I'm still trying to wrap my head around it 🙃. The fact that they found an adult woman with cut marks on her bones and no skull is wild. It makes me wonder if they were doing some kind of ritual to honor the deceased or something. I mean, the scientists are saying that she might have been taken apart for "curation" purposes... but it sounds like a pretty weird thing to do 🤔. I guess this discovery is gonna change our understanding of ancient hunter-gatherer societies a lot, and now I'm curious to learn more about them 📚.
 
🌟 just saw this news and i'm mind blown!!! 9,500 years old cremation pyre with an adult woman's remains in africa is huge 🤯! its like we're talking about ancient civilization here not just hunter-gatherers 🙏. its challenging our stereotypes of how social complex these communities were 💭. the fact that they had different treatment for death and life is mind boggling 🤔. i love how it's showing us their advanced belief systems too 👀. this find should be super exciting for archaeologists but also for anyone interested in human history 📚💡. what do you guys think?
 
this is crazy 🤯, 9,500 years old is like ancient history! so we thought hunter-gatherers were just nomads living in the wilderness, but it looks like they actually had some pretty complex societies. i mean, cremation pyres are usually associated with pastoral communities, but these early ones are way older and more advanced than that 🤝. it's wild to think about how different people got treated in life and death, and that might've affected their social roles too. this is a game-changer for our understanding of ancient african societies 💡
 
🤯 9,500 yrs old and still we got so much to learn about our ancestors I mean, cremation pyre with adult remains is defo not what you'd expect from those "savage hunter-gatherers" 🙅‍♀️ think again! The fact that they had some sort of ritualistic funeral practice where body parts were taken as tokens makes me wonder what other secrets they're hiding. It's crazy to think we've been judging them based on outdated stereotypes for so long 😒. This discovery is like, totally blowing my mind and I'm so here for it! 💥
 
🤯 so this is like totally mind blown! I mean, we always thought of ancient hunter gatherer societies as super primitive and simple, but it seems like some of these communities were actually pretty complex and had their own rituals and stuff. Like, cremation pyres aren't even that common in Africa until like 3,500 years ago, so this find is major! And the fact that they might have been doing more advanced things like curating body parts as tokens or reburial is wild 🤪. I'm also loving how it's challenging our whole "they were all savage and cannibalistic" stereotype 😂. It just goes to show that we can't just assume what people were like in the past based on what we know today.
 
this is so cool! i mean 9,500 years old cremation pyre is crazy 🤯 and the fact that it's challenging ancient hunter-gatherer stereotypes is awesome. i always thought they were just like cavemen but now we know there was more to it 🙃. and the idea that body parts were taken as tokens for curation or reburial elsewhere is wild 🔮. it makes me wonder what other secrets these pyres might be hiding. anyway, this discovery is giving me so much hope for our understanding of human history 👏
 
🤔💀 I just thought about it and if 9,500 yrs old is ancient, think about how many pyres were built before pyres were even invented 🕯️🌪️ like whoa our ancestors were busy building fires for the dead long before us 👻.
 
🤯 I mean, can you believe it? 9,500 years old! That's even older than some of our ancient myths 😱. So what does this tell us about our ancestors? For real though, the fact that they had cremation pyres and were able to remove body parts as tokens or for reburial is wild 💀. It sounds like they might have been more complex than we ever thought. I mean, some people got special treatment when they died, which makes me think there was a lot of social hierarchy going on 🤝.

And the idea that they had advanced belief systems and were able to organize their society in ways that are hard for us to understand today is pretty mind-blowing 🤯. I'm excited to learn more about this and see how it challenges our current understanding of ancient hunter-gatherer societies 👥. Maybe we've been thinking too much about them as just "cavemen" and not enough about the complexities of their lives 💡.
 
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