Hominin skeletal part abundances and claims of deliberate disposal of corpses in the Middle Pleistocene.
Humans are set apart from other organisms by the realization of their own mortality. Thus, determining the prehistoric emergence of this capacity is of significant interest to understanding the uniqueness of the human animal. Tracing that capacity chronologically is possible through archaeological investigations that focus on physical markers that reflect "mortality salience." Among these markers is the deliberate and culturally mediated disposal of corpses. Some Neandertal bone assemblages are among the earliest reasonable claims for the deliberate disposal of hominins, but even these are vigorously debated. More dramatic assertions center on the Middle Pleistocene sites of Sima de los Huesos (SH, Spain) and the Dinaledi Chamber (DC, South Africa), where the remains of multiple hominin individuals were found in deep caves, and under reported taphonomic circumstances that seem to discount the possibility that nonhominin actors and processes contributed to their formation. These claims, with significant implications for charting the evolution of the "human condition," deserve scrutiny. We test these assertions through machine-learning analyses of hominin skeletal part representation in the SH and DC assemblages. Our results indicate that nonanthropogenic agents and abiotic processes cannot yet be ruled out as significant contributors to the ultimate condition of both collections. This finding does not falsify hypotheses of deliberate disposal for the SH and DC corpses, but does indicate that the data also support partially or completely nonanthropogenic formational histories.
['Egeland|Charles P|CP|0000-0002-2731-8276', 'Domínguez-Rodrigo|Manuel|M|', 'Pickering|Travis Rayne|TR|', 'Menter|Colin G|CG|', 'Heaton|Jason L|JL|0000-0001-8039-4748']
D000818:Animals D000884:Anthropology, Cultural D001106:Archaeology D001842:Bone and Bones D002048:Burial D002102:Cadaver D002562:Ceremonial Behavior D005580:Fossils D049690:History, Ancient D015186:Hominidae D006801:Humans D000069550:Machine Learning D059125:Neanderthals D013019:South Africa D013030:Spain
mortality salience machine learning mortuary behavior skeletal part frequencies taphonomy