RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Burials and engravings in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2023.06.01.543135 DO 10.1101/2023.06.01.543135 A1 Agustin Fuentes A1 Marc Kissel A1 Penny Spikins A1 Keneiloe Molopyane A1 John Hawks A1 Lee R. Berger YR 2023 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/06/05/2023.06.01.543135.abstract AB Data from recent explorations in the Dinaledi subsystem illustrates one of the earliest examples of a mortuary practice in hominins and offers the earliest evidence of multiple interments and funerary actions, as well as evidence of the early creation of meaning making by a hominin. The hominin undertaking these behaviors was the small-brained Homo naledi. These data call into question several key assumptions about behavioral and cognitive evolution in Pleistocene hominins. The evidence from Dinaledi push back the temporal origins of mortuary and funerary behaviors and associate the creation of meaning making with a small-brained species and thus challenge key assumptions about the role and importance of encephalization in human evolution. This suggests that the hominin socio-cognitive niche and its relation to meaning-making activities is more diverse than previously thought. The association of these activities in subterranean spaces accessed and modified by the small brained species Homo naledi impacts assertations that technological and cognitive advances in human evolution are associated solely with the evolution of larger brains.One-Sentence Summary Burials and related meaning making in a small-brained hominin alter our understandings of human evolution.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.