Evidence suggests very early development of prehistoric female cultural identity
New scientific evidence is now revealing that, some 300,000 years ago, a little-known and now long-extinct species of hominid - Homo naledi - developed what appears to have been a very complex form of communal organisation, involving extreme sex-based cultural segregation and very strong female gender identity.
The evidence strongly suggests that the species segregated dead males and females - and that potentially implies that the two sexes may well also have been socially and culturally segregated during their lives. It suggests that the female of the species developed a form of very strong gender-based cultural identity that may, potentially in some respects, have been a form of prehistoric feminism.
Ancient protein tests on their teeth have revealed that the species seem to have operated female-only cemeteries. What's more, some evidence strongly suggests that the individuals who transported those deceased females to their final resting place (a remote cave inside a hill) and then actually buried them, were themselves also female.
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.
Full article at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/rising-star-cave-homo-naledi-feminism-cemetery-south-africa-b3002113.html