The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate. Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa. Here, we describe the partial skeleton of a c. 2.5-3.0 year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 ka, recovered in the MSA layers of Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave site in the tropical upland coast of Kenya. Recent excavations revealed a pit feature containing a child in a flexed position. Geochemical, granulometric and micromorphological analyses of the burial pit content and encasing archaeological layers indicate that the feature was deliberatly excavated. Taphonomical evidence such as the strict articulation or good anatomical association of the skeletal elements and histological evidence of putrefaction support the in-place decomposition of a fresh body. Absent to minimal displacement of the 4 unstable joints during decomposition points to an interment in a filled space (grave earth) making the PYS finding the oldest human burial in Africa. The morphological assessment of the partial skeleton is consistent with its assignment to H. sapiens, although the preservation of some primitive features in the dentition supports increasing evidence for non-gradual accretion of modern traits during the emergence of our species. The PYS burial sheds new light on how MSA populations interacted with the dead.Increasing scrutiny is being placed on the interplay between biological and cultural factors in the evolution of our lineage and the emergence of our species in Africa 1-3 .Mortuary practices are a significant component of our evolution and growing evidence supports an ancient origin for complex behaviours surrounding death 4-6 . Formal burials, defined as the interment of a dead body in an excavated grave, may have been preceded by more elusive practices and only performed by the latest representatives of the genus Homo. Testing this scenario is made difficult, particularly in Africa, by the scarcity of sites with clear and well-dated evidence for the treatment of dead bodies.Panga ya Saidi (PYS) has emerged as one of the key Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) sites of Africa given its excellent preservation of environmental proxies 7,8 , its distinctive sequence of technological innovations and symbolic traits 8,9 , and its preservation of biomolecular information 10,11 . The excavated cave sequence is ~3 metres deep and encompasses 19 layers (Fig. 1). A series of stratigraphically ordered radiocarbon and luminescence ages, when included in a Bayesian model, indicate human occupation from ~78 ka to 500 years ago 8 , representing most of the last five marine isotope stages.

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Fossil and archaeological evidence indicates that hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia occurred throughout the Pleistocene, including the expansion of Homo sapiens populations out of Africa. While there is evidence for hominin occupations in the Pleistocene in Iran, as evidenced by the presence of Lower to Upper Paleolithic archaeological sites, the extent to which humid periods facilitated population expansions into western Asia has remained unclear. To test the role of humid periods on hominin dispersals here we assess Paleolithic site distributions and paleoenvironmental records across Iran. We developed the first spatially comprehensive, high-resolution paleohydrological model for Iran in order to assess water availability and its influence on hominin dispersals. We highlight environmentally mediated routes which likely played a key role in Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals, including the expansion of H. sapiens and Neanderthals eastwards into Asia. Our combined analyses indicate that, during MIS 5, there were opportunities for hominins to traverse a northern route through the Alborz and Kopet Dagh Mountains and the Dasht-I Kavir desert owing to the presence of activated fresh water sources. We recognize a new southern route along the Zagros Mountains and extending eastwards towards Pakistan and Afghanistan. We find evidence for a potential northern route during MIS 3, which would have permitted hominin movements and species interactions in Southwest Asia. Between humid periods, these interconnections would have waned, isolating populations in the Zagros and Alborz Mountains, where hominins may have continued to have had access to water.