One of the most remarkable discoveries at Gobero is the triple burial dubbed the “Stone Age Embrace.” An adult female is buried on her right side facing two children, buried on their left side. These people were buried with their arms and legs around each other and holding hands. Four arrowheads were buried in the grave with them, and they were buried on a bed of flowers.

Instances where more than a single person is buried in a grave are rare. At Gobero, the team discovered three “multiple” burials. Two are double burials and one triple burial. The triple the first triple burial ever discovered on Africa.

Burials with more than one body? The simultaneous, or near simultaneous, death and burial of two adults could indicate that in life they shared a close relationship – perhaps they were family members, or maybe they were married. If the burials are adult male and female, there is the possibility that the female was sacrificed after her male consort died; this practice occurs, albeit very rarely, in a few modern near eastern and African cultures.

But what would explain a burial with an adult and children together? While it is possible that children could have been sacrificed, what else might explain a simultaneous death and/or the death of children? Communicable disease is a likely agent of death.

The Double Burials

The team found two burials with two adults (“double burials”). The first double burial was exposed on the surface and extremely eroded, but there is enough evidence to say it contained two Tenerean adults.

The second double burial is well preserved and contains two young Kiffian children, one of which was scientifically dated to be 9,630 years old. The team wondered if it was a burial preserving twins, but after the fossils were cleaned in the lab, we could study their teeth, and we determined by the stage of eruption of their teeth that one was four and the other five years old; they were not twins.

Africa’s “Stone Age Embrace”—EVIDENCE

First observed projecting from the ground in 2003 and excavated in 2006, the triple burial is a ‘tour de force’ of collection and preparation techniques. The team preserved all skeletal bones and artifacts in their original positions and was able to create a replica that enables viewers to see the burial from above and below.

We do not know for sure whether this represents a family group of mother and children. They appear to have died nearly simultaneously, or over a very short interval of time. There was no damage to their skeletons at all. It is possible these people could have died from a communicable disease or drowned in the lake near the cemetery.

Burial Age, Skeletons, Artifacts, Pollen

• Three human skeletons: woman in her twenties, a juvenile eight years old, and a juvenile five years old.
• No bone trauma or obvious signs of bone disease.
• Four arrowheads were found in burial; two were under the female skeleton, one under her ribcage and another pressed between her right radius and ulna.
• Age of burial Tenerean, approximately 5,300 years old.
• Pollen clusters of wool flower were found in sand samples under the female skeleton and between the skeletons of the juveniles.

Skeletal Positions

• Adult female skeleton tipped slightly belly-up facing left and reaching out with both hands toward the two juveniles; forearms are twisted, her hands are clasped.
• Eight-year-old juvenile tipped slightly belly-up facing right, and reaching out with both hands toward female skeleton, leg overlapping her leg.
• Five-year-old juvenile tipped slightly belly-down facing right, and reaching out toward female skeleton with both arms passing around middle juvenile, right leg overlapping pelvis of middle juvenile.

Africa’s “Stone Age Embrace”—Burial Sequence

The artistic and complex positioning of the bodies tells us a lot about their time of death and how they were buried.

After an adult human dies, a build-up of lactic acid makes body parts rigid (called rigor mortis—“stiff death”) until the muscles begin to decompose. Although body size and temperature are among several influential factors, maximum stiffness is usually reached within 12 to 24 hours post mortem (after death). Facial muscles are affected first, with the rigor then spreading to other parts of the body. After 72 hours, general tissue decay causes the muscles to relax.

The arms of the female have a very specific pose: her forearms are crossed. Her right forearm passes from underneath over her left forearm, so that her right hand is palm-up, resting on her left hand. Her left hand is flexed at the wrist, as seen from below.

These posture details, which are integrated with the skeletons of the juveniles, suggests the burial happened at a time when all three individuals retained considerable flexibility, still their skeletons were still articulated (complete). As a consequence, it seems quite unlikely that these individuals died many hours apart.

Four projectile points are closely associated with the burial, none more than a few centimeters from human skeletal bone. All four, in addition, are small and hollow based. It seems highly likely then that these points represent “grave goods” that were specifically placed within the burial.

Finally, skeletal posture and relationship to artifacts and pollen suggests a burial sequence.

• First: a bed of wool flowers with flower heads and at least two, and possibly all four, of the arrowheads were laid in a shallow grave in the dune sand.
• Second: The female was buried first, her arms intertwined and hands clasped.
• Third: The eight-year-old juvenile was then placed in the grave, the right side of the face and right hand resting on top of the right forearm of the female.
• Fourth: Finally, the five-year-old was placed in the grave with both forelimbs around the head of the eight-year-old juvenile. The right leg of this smallest individual was flexed at the knee and placed over the pelvis of the eight-year-old child.

Africa’s “Stone Age Embrace”—Significance

Burials with symbolic or ritual pose are a relatively recent cultural practice in human history, dating back only about 70,000 years ago. Most burial postures are flexed on their sides or backs, but few burials involve multiple individuals.

The triple burial at Gobero is unique in the way the bodies are positioned in intimate interaction. There can be little doubt these people were buried in a ritual and exacting pose, which gives the viewer an immediate sense of their intimate, human, relationship.

Additional Information

Alt, K. W., Pichler, S., Vach, W., Klima, B., Vlcek, E. & Sedlmeier, J. 1997. Twenty-five thousand-year-old triple burial from Dolnı Vestonice: An Ice-Age family? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 102: 123-131.

Barton, R. N. E., Bouzouggar, A., Humphrey, L. T., Berridge, P., Collcutt, S. N. & Gale, R. 2008. Human burial evidence from Hattab II Cave (Oued Laou-Tétuoan, Morocco) and the question of continuity in Late Pleistocene–Holocene mortuary practices in Northwest Africa. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 18: 195–214.

Duday, H. Archaeological proof of an abrupt mortality crisis: Simultaneous deposit of cadavers, simultaneous deaths? In D. Raoult and M. Drancourt (eds.): Paleomicrobiology: Past Human Infections, Chpt. 3, pp. 49-54.

Klima, B. 1988. A triple burial from the Upper Paleolithic of Dolni Vestonice, Czechoslovakia. Journal of Human Evolution, 16: 831-835.

Smirnov, Y. 1989. Intentional human burial: Middle Paleolithic (last glaciation) beginnings. Journal of World Prehistory, 3: 199-233.