Discovery of prehistoric female-only cemetery changes what we know about early human society

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelogenin

'Amelogenins are a group of protein isoforms produced by alternative splicing or proteolysis from the AMELX gene, on the X chromosome, and also the AMELY gene in males, on the Y chromosome.[1] They are involved in amelogenesis, the development of enamel.[2] Amelogenins are type of extracellular matrix protein, which, together with ameloblastins, enamelins and tuftelins, direct the mineralization of enamel to form a highly organized matrix of rods, interrod crystal and proteins. '

Fascinating!

I assume it's because of the 'Amelogenin X unique amino acid '

Sorry, that was confusingly put!

The quote is from here:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00644-6

'Proteomic analysis of dental enamel from 20 Homo naledi individuals shows no male markers'

Specifically looking at sex analysis.

'•
Out of 20 H. naledi individuals screened, no male individuals were confidently identified
•
There is no variation in the protein sequences recovered
•
H. naledi has an Amelogenin X unique amino acid within the Hominin group
•
H. naledi COL1A17 shows an ancestral variant shared with Paranthropus robustus
Summary
The Rising Star cave system excavations resulted in a high number of well-preserved skeletal specimens from multiple individuals of Homo naledi, showing a high degree of morphological homogeneity, including dental variation possibly consistent with a single-sex sample. Here, we report the paleoproteomic analysis of dental enamel proteins extracted via micro-destructive acid etching from 23 H. naledi specimens belonging to a minimum of 20 individuals. After excluding the possibility of technical bias, no convincing evidence supporting the confident identification of male individuals was detected in any of the investigated samples. We also detect no variability in the recovered proteome, and we observe two amino acid substitutions: a derived one in amelogenin X compared with Homo, and an ancestral one in COL17A1, also present in Paranthropus robustus. Our results further support the homogeneity of H. naledi fossils and show how to sustainably investigate extinct hominins.'

It's very interesting but like a lot of this kind of study, there are probably six other explanations that are equally plausibltt hi

That's amazing! Thank you, OP

Interesting story, so many questions (not least how long a timescale the 'burials' happened over).

wrt more recent stuff, did it identify the island where women who died in childbirth were buried? Interested because it ties into something else, and couldn't Id it - did come across the island(s) where girls who got pregnant outside wedlock got marooned on.

Haven't finished the thread so apologies if repeating.

The caves were already known of, and named.

When two men were exploring one of the tricky caverns they came across what they thought might be bones.

They left them in place, took photos, and showed them to Lee Berger (thr guy who put out the call for the underground astronauts).

Perhaps there's a similar cave nearby that hasn't been found or thoroughly explored yet and that's where the blokes are. Although the men who should have been interred there may have been left in a ditch until the other men 'got round to it' and they never got round to it*. They may have found the nonbinary cave somewhere else but not realised, with it being completely empty.

*have they found any patios associated with this hominid? If they have I think I know where the males are.

I guess you could phrase it as "part of their cultural identity was based on sex". It was a gender identity in the way that the sex they were formed a part of how they thought of themselves and their place in the world beyond the basic biological processes associated with that sex.

Ah, thanks.

@Persephonia1966 - well yes, it seems to have been a gendered society - different burial customs defined by their sex, and who knows what other cultural practices. That doesn’t imply that any of these people had anything like a concept of ‘gender identity’ rather than more simply, like most people nowadays, they just knew which sex they were.

It’s what the scientific paper linked to in a subsequent post explains - obviously in pretty technical terms. They were able to analyse certain proteins which have different mutations depending on sex.

Where did that quote come from? I can't find it in the article you quote.

I'm puzzled, actually. "The species' males are archaeologically totally invisible. None have ever been found - and archaeologists have absolutely no idea what their role in society was or where they were buried." (from the Independent article) - so if no dead males have been found, how can we be sure that all the skeletons are actually female? The article does say, "most male hominids (of various species) have tended to be 15-50% larger than female ones" but it seems that for Homo Naledi we don't have any skeletons that are thought to be male.

They should come on here and do an AMA thread. There would be loads of interesting questions. Not least the point @Seriestwo made about how it originally came to exist when it is so inaccessible!

Regardless, this is an amazing story and thanks for sharing it @IwantToRetire

I’m still staggered that this team of archaeologists were gathered. They must have had a hunch there was something useful down there? I’m confident that is more to that than “oh, there’s a hole. Ideal for dead or discoveries”

Surely "gender identity" is a bit relevant to this article because it's about cultural practices, not just sex. Eg dogs don't decide "I'm a girl dog, your a boy dog I'll be the one to have puppies". But for cultural practices (of which burial is one) there is presumably a thought process and a noticing of diferences. E.g noticing that women and men are different because women have the babies (and other stuff obviously) and consciously creating practices and traditions around those differences. There isn't anything instinctual about burying women in a different place to men. Or about burying people in a particular way. It shows a higher level of cognitive awareness, culture and communication so it is relevant.
However, I also don't think this supports a TRA argument. If anything it shows that noticing sexual differences is not some crazy outcome of colonialism or modern patriarchy.

The other possibility is, as others said, that it wasn't a cultural practice but a result of their being less men, or that genus of hominids having an instinctive difference that caused women to form a group and men to be isolated from it.

Fascinating. And a compelling story.

'...the accuracy of morphology-based sex estimation can be greatly influenced by sex ratios and by the level of intersexual variability within species, factors that are difficult to establish for extinct taxa due in part to small sample sizes.10 The challenges of estimating the skeletal sex of ancient individuals, especially those in deep time, are further compounded by the degradation and incompleteness of skeletal remains'

I find it astonishing that 300,000 years old skeletons of a pre-humanoid can be sexed!

This article has pictures:

https://archaeologymag.com/2025/09/homo-naledi-deliberately-buried-their-dead/