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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
Abstract
EGELAND, Charles P; PICKERING, Travis Rayne; FADEM, Cynthia M. and DOMINGUEZ-RODRIGO, Manuel. Back from the dead: Another response to the contextual bases of the Rising Star 'deliberate body disposal' hypothesis. S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2022, vol.118, n.11-12, pp.1-2. ISSN 1996-7489. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2022/13873.
SIGNIFICANCE: The hypothesis that >1500 Middle Pleistocene hominin bones represent the remains of complete corpses deposited deliberately in Rising Star Cave by conspecifics is provocative. This is because intentional handling of dead bodies might imply these hominins had developed a uniquely human sense of mortality salience >235 000 years ago. We assess the contextual bases of this hypothesis and find they do not, in fact, provide its unequivocal support. In sum, critical assessment of relevant geological and taphonomic data disallows falsification of the null hypothesis that the assemblage formed as the result of a non-anthropogenic process(es). Because so, the 'deliberate body disposal' hypothesis remains unsupported
Keywords : palaeoanthropology; taphonomy; mortality salience; Homo naledi; Rising Star Cave.