When did humans start burying their dead?

Many cultures around the world choose to honor deceased loved ones through burial. The ceremonies that accompany this ritual are steeped in history and tradition and can vary from culture to culture. But when was the first human burial?

Stiner doesn't rule out the potential for older burials to exist but said the most convincing early examples for modern humans burying their dead come from the Middle Paleolithic. Some controversial research has suggested that extinct human relatives buried their dead around 300,000 years ago in what is now South Africa, but this is disputed in the scientific community.

The origins of burial are not fully understood, but ancient humans would have had plenty of reasons to dispose of their dead both inside and outside of caves. Humans and many other animals have an"inherent aversion" to decay, Trish Biers, curator of the Duckworth Laboratory in the Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge, told Live Science.

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