Ancient Human Relatives Buried Their Dead and Carved Symbols, New Evidence Suggests.

Scientists in South Africa have discovered gravesites of small-brained hominids dating back between 236,000 and 335,000 years, much older than the first known human graves from a cave in Israel, which date to about 92,000 years ago. The team announced that Homo naledi had used fire to light the way through the cave system to deliberately bury their dead, while marking their graves with artwork on the cave walls. This discovery challenges the conventional wisdom that larger brains eventually brought our later ancestors more complex thought, allowing for the development of complicated language, the control of fire, and other advanced concepts such as burying their dead.