All-Female Burial Site of Extinct Human Relatives Baffles Scientists

A new analysis of fossil teeth from South Africa’s Rising Star cave system found no molecular evidence of males among the Homo naledi individuals tested. The result may explain why the remains have always appeared unusually similar.

The finding does not prove that the chamber was a female-only cemetery. Instead, it leaves scientists weighing selective treatment of the dead against an unexpected genetic feature in this extinct human relative.