9,500-year-old cremation pyre of a hunter-gatherer woman is the oldest of its kind in the world

The 9,500-year-old remains of a woman in Malawi have set a new record, marking Africa's oldest evidence of intentional cremation, as well as the earliest known cremation pyre for an adult that is still "in situ," or in its original position, a new study finds.

The pyre is located at a hunter-gatherer burial ground at the foot of Mount Hora in Malawi, where the burials date to between 8,000 and 16,000 years ago. The pyre is the only known cremation at the site. The analysis of 170 bone fragments from the cremated individual indicated that she stood less than 5 feet (150 centimeters) tall and died between the ages of 18 and 60. The team also found stone tools, which may have been funerary objects, within the remains of the pyre.

"Surprisingly, there were no fragments of teeth or skull bones in the pyre," study co-author Elizabeth Sawchuk, a bioarchaeologist and curator of human evolution at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, said in a statement. "We believe the head may have been removed prior to burning."

Cuts on some of the bones indicate that parts of the deceased's body were stripped or separated, according to the study, which was published Jan. 1 in the journal Science Advances. These cuts, as well as the removal of the skull, could have been associated with remembrance, social memory and respect of ancestors, study lead author Jessica Cerezo-Román, an anthropologist at the University of Oklahoma, said in the statement.

The team also concluded that the woman was likely cremated just a few days after she died, before her body started decomposing.

The earliest evidence of an in situ pyre, discovered at an archaeological site in Alaska, belongs to a 3-year-old who was cremated around 11,500 years ago. Before the latest finding, Africa's oldest conclusive cremations dated to about 3,500 years ago in Kenya, and were linked with pastoral Neolithic herders. The oldest evidence of regular cremation is much older, dating to around 40,000 years ago at Lake Mungo in Australia, but that body was not entirely burned.

"Cremation is very rare among ancient and modern hunter-gatherers, at least partially because pyres require a huge amount of labor, time, and fuel to transform a body into fragmented and calcined bone and ash," Cerezo-Román explained.

The pyre in Malawi would have needed at least 66 pounds (30 kilograms) of wood and grass, suggesting a group endeavor. The study also revealed that individuals constantly added fuel to the pyre to maintain high temperatures, which may have exceeded 930 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius).

"It was such a spectacle that we have to re-think how we view group labor and ritual in these ancient hunter-gatherer communities," study co-author Jessica Thompson, an assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University, said in the statement.

The researchers identified traces of large fires at the site from both 700 years before and 500 years after the cremation. This evidence suggests the pyre's position endured as a significant location, although no one else was cremated there, the researchers said.

One remaining question is why the woman was the only cremated individual at the site. "There must have been something specific about her that warranted special treatment," Thompson said.