2026-01-01 イェール大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.yale.edu/2026/01/01/ancient-cremation-pyre-offers-glimpse-tropical-hunter-gatherers-mortuary-practices
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adz9554
アフリカにおける人骨の意図的な火葬の最も古い証拠 Earliest evidence for intentional cremation of human remains in Africa
Jessica I. Cerezo-Román, Elizabeth Sawchuk, Flora Schilt, Alex Bertacchi, […] , and Jessica C. Thompson
Science Advances Published:1 Jan 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz9554
Abstract
Human cremation on an open pyre demands intensive labor, communal resources, and sensory exposures. We report the earliest evidence for intentional cremation in Africa, the oldest in situ adult pyre in the world, and one of only a few associated with hunter-gatherers. A large cremation feature at Hora 1 in Malawi dates to ~9500 years ago and contains the remains of a small, gracile adult with evidence for perimortem defleshing and postcremation manipulation. Subsequent revisiting of the site to build fires in the same place provided additional pyrotechnological spectacles. High-resolution, multiproxy reconstruction of the ritual associated with cremation and its subsequent deposition demonstrates complex mortuary practices among ancient African foraging groups with substantial social investment and use of natural landscape features as persistent mortuary monuments.
