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An artist’s illustration depicts how Mtoto may have been laid to rest in its grave.
Fernando Fueyo
Scientists unearth Africa’s oldest burial: a small child, laid to rest 78,000 years ago
May. 5, 2021 , 11:00 AM
Some 78,000 years ago, a community in East Africa laid to rest a child of about 3 years old. Its caretakers dug a shallow pit, curled its small body, and may have rested its head on a pillow before committing the body to the earth. A new study describing the excavation of the child’s grave reveals the oldest known evidence of modern humans in Africa burying their dead.