備註請放最後面 違者新聞文章刪除
1.媒體來源:
外媒 phys
2.記者署名:
Stephanie Baum
Andrew Zinin
3.完整新聞標題:
Recent discovery reveals Africa's oldest cremation pyre and complex ritual
practices
最新發現揭示了非洲最古老的火葬堆及其複雜的祭祀儀式
4.完整新聞內文:
Recent discovery reveals Africa's oldest cremation pyre and complex ritual
practices
by University of Oklahoma
edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Andrew Zinin
Editors' notes
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
About 9,500 years ago, a community of hunter-gatherers in central Africa
cremated a small woman on an open pyre at the base of Mount Hora, a prominent
natural landmark in northern Malawi, according to a new study coauthored by
an international team based in the United States, Africa, and Europe. It is
the first time this behavior has been documented in the African
hunter-gatherer record.
最新發現揭示了非洲最古老的火葬堆及其複雜的祭祀儀式
俄克拉荷馬大學提供
由史蒂芬妮·鮑姆 編輯 ，安德魯·齊寧審閱
圖片來源：Pixabay/CC0 公共領域
一項由來自美國、非洲和歐洲的國際團隊共同撰寫的新研究表明，大約9500年前，非洲中
部的一個狩獵採集部落在馬拉維北部著名的自然地標霍拉山腳下，用露天柴堆火化了一名
身材矮小的女性。這是非洲狩獵採集者記錄中首次出現此類行為。
The study, published in the journal Science Advances, provides the earliest
evidence of intentional cremation in Africa and describes the world's oldest
known in situ cremation pyre containing the remains of an adult.
這項發表在《科學進展》雜誌上的研究提供了非洲最早的有意火葬的證據，並描述了世界
上已知最古老的原位火葬堆，其中包含成年人的遺骸。
While burned human remains appear as early as ~40,000 years at Lake Mungo,
Australia, pyres—intentionally built structures of combustible fuel—do not
appear in the archaeological record until nearly 30,000 years later.
Using archaeological, geospatial, forensic, and bioarchaeological methods,
including microscopic examination of the pyre sediments and detailed analysis
of the human bone fragments, the researchers reconstructed the extraordinary
sequence of events surrounding the cremation in unprecedented detail. Their
findings demonstrate that the mortuary and other social behaviors of ancient
African foragers were far more complex than previously thought.
雖然在澳洲蒙戈湖發現的人類遺骸早在約 40,000 年前就已出現，但火葬堆—即故意建
造的可燃燃料結構—直到近 30,000 年後才出現在考古記錄中。
研究人員運用考古學、地理空間學、法醫學和生物考古學方法，包括對火葬堆沉積物進行
顯微鏡檢查和對人類骨骼碎片進行詳細分析，以前所未有的細節重建了圍繞火葬的一系列
非凡事件。他們的發現表明，古代非洲狩獵採集者的喪葬習俗和其他社會行為遠比之前認
為的複雜得多。
"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," said lead author
Jessica Cerezo-Román, an associate professor of anthropology at the
University of Oklahoma.
"Not only is this the earliest cremation in Africa, it was such a spectacle
that we have to re-think how we view group labor and ritual in these ancient
hunter-gatherer communities," adds senior author Jessica Thompson, an
assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University, who leads a long-term
research project at the site of the discovery in collaboration with the
Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments.
「在古代和現代的狩獵採集者中，火葬非常罕見，至少部分原因是火葬需要大量的勞動力
、時間和燃料才能將屍體變成破碎的、煅燒的骨頭和灰燼，」主要作者、俄克拉荷馬大學
人類學副教授傑西卡·塞雷佐-羅曼說。
「這不僅是非洲最早的火葬，而且場面如此壯觀，以至於我們不得不重新思考我們如何看
待這些古代狩獵採集社會中的集體勞動和儀式，」資深作者傑西卡湯普森補充道。她是耶
魯大學人類學助理教授，與馬拉威博物館和古蹟部門合作，在該發現地點領導一項長期研
究計畫。
The oldest evidence for an in situ pyre dates to about 11,500 years ago from
the Xaasaa Na' (Upward Sun River) archaeological site in Alaska and contains
the remains of a child about three years old. Prior to the discovery of the
pyre at Mount Hora, the first definitive cremations in Africa appeared around
3,500 years ago in eastern Africa and were associated with Pastoral Neolithic
herders.
Cremation is more common among ancient food-producing societies, which
generally possess more complex technology and engage in more elaborate
mortuary rituals than earlier hunter-gatherers.
The cremation site, Hora 1, is under an overhang at the base of a granite
inselberg (a large rocky hill or mountain) that rises several hundred feet
from the surrounding plain. Archaeological research in the 1950s revealed
that the site was used as a hunter-gatherer burial ground, but how long ago
remained unknown. Thompson's work starting in 2016 showed that people first
inhabited the site about 21,000 years ago and used it for burials between
about 16,000 and 8,000 years ago, with all the people interred in a complete
state.
現存最古老的原位火葬遺跡可追溯至約11500年前，位於阿拉斯加的Xaasaa Na'（上太陽
河）考古遺址，其中包含一名約三歲兒童的遺骸。在霍拉山火葬遺跡被發現之前，非洲最
早的正式火葬出現在約3500年前的東非，與新石器時代的牧民有關。
火葬在古代以食物生產為主的社會中更為普遍，這些社會通常擁有比早期狩獵採集社會更
複雜的技術，並進行更複雜的喪葬儀式。
火葬場「霍拉1號」（Hora 1）位於一座花崗岩孤山（大型岩石山丘或山峰）底部的一處
懸崖下，這座孤山從周圍平原拔地而起數百英尺。 1950年代的考古研究表明，該遺址曾
被用作狩獵採集者的墓地，但具體年代尚不清楚。湯普森自2016年開始的研究表明，人類
最早於約21000年前在此定居，並於約16000至8000年前將其用作墓地，所有墓葬者均保存
完好。
By contrast, the cremation pyre from approximately 9,500 years ago was part
of an ash feature the size of a queen bed and containing a single highly
fragmented individual. There is no evidence of anyone else being cremated at
the site before or after.
An analysis of the 170 human bone fragments excavated from the pyre—mostly
from arms and legs—suggest that the person cremated was an adult woman
between 18 and 60 years old and just under five feet tall. By looking at her
bones and the patterns of thermal alteration, the team determined her body
was cremated prior to decomposition, probably within a few days of her death.
Cutmarks on several limb bones suggest parts of her body were defleshed or
removed.
相較之下，大約9500年前的火葬堆是一張雙人床大小的骨灰掩埋場的一部分，裡面只有一
具高度破碎的遺骸。沒有證據顯示在此之前或之後還有其他人在此火化。
從火葬堆中挖掘出的170塊人類骨骼碎片（主要來自手臂和腿部）的分析表明，被火化者
是一位年齡在18至60歲之間、身高略低於五英尺的成年女性。透過觀察她的骨骼和熱處理
痕跡，研究團隊確定她的遺體在腐爛之前就被火化了，很可能是在她死後幾天內。幾塊肢
骨上的切割痕跡表明，她身體的某些部位曾被去除軟組織或移除。
"Surprisingly, there were no fragments of teeth or skull bones in the pyre,"
said Elizabeth Sawchuk, Curator of Human Evolution at the Cleveland Museum of
Natural History and a bioarchaeologist involved in the study. "Because those
parts are usually preserved in cremations, we believe the head may have been
removed prior to burning."
「令人驚訝的是，火葬堆裡沒有發現牙齒或頭骨碎片，」克利夫蘭自然歷史博物館人類進
化館長、參與這項研究的生物考古學家伊麗莎白·索丘克說。 “因為這些部位通常會在
火葬中保存下來，我們認為頭部可能在焚燒前就被取走了。”
Building the pyre required gathering at least 30 kg of deadwood and grass,
pointing toward a significant communal effort, the researchers said.
Participants actively disturbed the fire during burning and continually added
fuel to sustain high temperatures, according to the analysis of ash sediments
and bone fragments. Evidence suggests the blaze reached temperatures greater
than 500 °C. Discovery of stone tools within the pyre suggest they were
either added to or embedded within the burning remains, perhaps as funerary
objects.
"These hands-on manipulations, cutting flesh from the bones and removing the
skull, sound very gruesome, but there are many reasons people may have done
this associated with remembrance, social memory, and ancestral veneration,"
said Cerezo-Román. "There is growing evidence among ancient hunter-gatherers
in Malawi for mortuary rituals that include posthumous removal, curation, and
secondary reburial of body parts, perhaps as tokens."
研究人員表示，建造這座火葬堆至少需要收集30公斤枯木和草，顯示當時進行了大量的集
體努力。對灰燼沉積物和骨骼碎片的分析表明，參與者在燃燒過程中會不斷擾動火勢，並
持續添加燃料以維持高溫。證據表明，火勢達到了攝氏500度以上。在火葬堆中發現的石
器表明，它們可能是被添加到燃燒的遺骸中，也可能是被埋藏其中的，或許是作為陪葬品
。
「這些親手操作，例如從骨頭上割下血肉、取下頭骨，聽起來非常殘忍，但人們這樣做可
能有很多原因，與紀念、社會記憶和祖先崇拜有關，」塞雷佐-羅曼說。 「越來越多的證
據表明，馬拉威古代狩獵採集者的喪葬儀式包括死後取出、保存和重新埋葬身體部位，或
許是作為某種象徵。”
The team also found evidence that about 700 years before the pyre event, the
location had been the site of large fires. Then, within 500 years after the
cremation event, multiple additional large fires were lit atop the pyre
itself. Although no one else was cremated, this suggests that people
remembered the pyre's location and recognized its ongoing significance. The
history of large fires in this location, the effort associated with the
cremation, and the subsequent burning events reflect a deep-rooted tradition
at the site linked to ritual behavior and memory-making tied to a place that
was clearly a local landmark.
While the cremation process is now clear, the motivation behind the event
remains mysterious.
"Why was this one woman cremated when the other burials at the site were not
treated that way?" Thompson said. "There must have been something specific
about her that warranted special treatment."
研究團隊還發現證據表明，在火葬事件發生前約700年，該地點曾發生大型火災。隨後，
在火葬事件發生後的500年內，人們在火葬堆上點燃了多堆大型營火。儘管沒有其他人被
火化，但這表明人們記住了火葬堆的位置，並認識到它持續的重要性。該地點歷史上發生
的大型篝火、火葬活動以及隨後的焚燒事件，都反映出該地點根深蒂固的傳統，這種傳統
與儀式行為和記憶構建密切相關，而該地點顯然是當地的地標。
雖然火葬過程現在已經很清楚，但這事件背後的動機仍然是個謎。
湯普森說：“為什麼只有這位女性被火化，而墓地裡的其他遺體卻沒有被火化？她肯定有
什麼特殊之處，值得特殊對待。”
More information: Jessica Cerezo-Román et al, Earliest Evidence for
Intentional Cremation of Human Remains in Africa, Science Advances (2026).
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adz9554. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adz9554
Journal information: Science Advances
Provided by University of Oklahoma
更多資訊： Jessica Cerezo-Román 等人，《非洲人類遺骸有意火化的最早證據》，《
科學進展》 (2026)。 DOI ：10.1126/sciadv.adz9554。 www.science.org /doi
/10.1126/sciadv.adz9554
期刊資訊： 《科學進展》
俄克拉荷馬 大學提供
5.完整新聞連結 (或短網址)不可用YAHOO、LINE、MSN等轉載媒體:
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6.備註:
帝皇是如此深愛著全體人類