# Martinón-Torres 2021: Earliest known human burial in Africa

> María Martinón-Torres, Francesco d'Errico, Elena Santos, 2021. 2 records on Mysteries Department cite it. A reference case for what the evidence of a…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D38X0BA1MZR/earliest-known-human-burial-in-africa  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials)Martinón-Torres 2021

**0**

# Earliest known human burial in Africa

María Martinón-Torres, Francesco d'Errico, Elena Santos, 2021. _Nature 593: 95-100_.

The burial of a child of about three at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya, about 78,000 years ago, shown by a dug pit, sediment micromorphology and the articulated, flexed body; the earliest accepted burial in Africa.

**Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims** Articledoi: **[10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

A reference case for what the evidence of a Pleistocene burial looks like.

## Cited by on this site 2 records

[Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials)

The mystery article

MYS

[Were the Hill Antechamber and Dinaledi features bodies placed in dug pits and deliberately covered?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials/questions/QST0D38X7DW1XKH/were-the-hill-antechamber-and-dinaledi-features-bodies)

Question

QST

## Cite it

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

[Read it free at doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8)

Key

**SRC** 0D38X0BA1MZR

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

27 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D38X0BA1MZR/earliest-known-human-burial-in-africa/csl.json)