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

[IwantToRetire]

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

Ah, thanks.

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.

I think "gendered" is maybe a better word or label to use.

Or even as we dont know the culture of that group, sex stereotype roles.

One of the articles I read, sort of poo-pooing what others are saying, pointed out that often women were the ones who went out to do hunting, collect edible plants etc., while the men stayed home. They may have strayed too far. There may have been a weather event. The took shelter and then saw this other opening, which may not have been as small as it is now, and thought lets take a look. And then it become part of their verbal history and women revisited it!!

Although this implies that it was much more than that:

... And last but not least, emerging evidence (due to be published shortly) strengthens the argument that the Naledi women created a form of geometric art which still adorns more than five square metres of the cave's walls. ...

Sort of cubists before there were even cubists.

Maybe Margaret Atwood could re-imagine their story.

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.

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).

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.

That's amazing! Thank you, OP

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

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.'

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

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!