Oldest known cremation in Africa poses 9,500-year-old mystery about Stone Age hunter-gatherers

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Oldest known cremation in Africa poses 9,500-year-old mystery about Stone Age hunter-gatherers
Published: January 1, 2026 2:01pm EST

Jessica C. Thompson
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Yale University
Elizabeth Sawchuk
Curator of Human Evolution of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)
Jessica Cerezo-Román
Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma


(The Conversation) Near the equator, the Sun hurries below the horizon in a matter of minutes. Darkness seeps from the surrounding forest. Nearly 10,000 years ago, at the base of a mountain in Africa, people’s shadows stretch up the wall of a natural overhang of stone.

They’re lit by a ferocious fire that’s been burning for hours, visible even to people miles away. The wind carries the smell of burning. This fire will linger in community memory for generations − and in the archaeological record for far longer.

We are a team of bioarchaeologists, archaeologists and forensic anthropologists who, with our colleagues, recently discovered the earliest evidence of cremation – the transformation of a body from flesh to burned bone fragments and ashes – in Africa and the earliest example of an adult pyre cremation in the world.

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Many cultures have practiced cremation, and the bones, ash and other residues from these events help archaeologists piece together past funeral rituals. Our scientific paper, published in the journal Science Advances, describes a spectacular event that happened about 9,500 years ago in Malawi in south-central Africa, challenging long-held notions about how hunter-gatherers treat their dead. .....................(more)

https://theconversation.com/oldest-known-cremation-in-africa-poses-9-500-year-old-mystery-about-stone-age-hunter-gatherers-268074