Exploring the Fossil Record

According to the article “Exploring the Fossil Record, Homo Heidelbergensis,” Bradshaw Foundation highlights and demystifies the mystery of the discovery of Homo heidelbergensis. (2020). From the studies, the discovery of about 30 human-like humanoids in a 12-meter pit in Atapuera, now called the Pit of Bones, has become a subject of contemplation. According to Stanford et al. (2017), there was unclear precedence between the Neanderthals and Denisovans; therefore, the discovery of Homo heidelbergensis could be a link between the two. It is accepted that the cause of the common pit burial could have been caused by some collective funeral rites, which existed during that time. It could possibly mean that the early human beings who existed during the Neanderthal Period had a common culture that allowed people to bury their loved ones and relatives in the same graveyard using the same burial celebration festivals. Researchers now believe that there could be a culture that celebrated individuals in the community. For instance, the excavation of a believed-to-be a 12-year old girl with cranial deformation and that of a wholly deformed older adult means that the ancient society had a way of giving respect to the vulnerable people in society when they die (Marshall 2013). Notwithstanding, the pit could be meant for a ritual purpose. Marshall (2013) echoes that the discovery of a hand ax on the site could have had some ancient adornment purpose and could have been meant for celebrating the dead. 

Although the early accounts of humans were anecdotal, it is paramount to realize the value of the discovered bodies (Pettitt and Anderson 2019). This is because many discoveries can be a source of knowledge on ancient cultures, which can only increase the momentum to learn from primate thanatology and increase the contemporary knowledge about the culture. Furthermore, the buried hominoids could have resulted due to Neanderthal migration, which saw the migrants being killed by prey, climatic catastrophes, and predators. The victims of these calamities could have been disposed of in pits as the other migrants moved. 

Besides, there is also a high probability that Homo heidelbergensis lived on higher grounds and hilly sides of Atapuera, meaning that the deposits of bones, artifacts, animal materials, and sediments during the period could have been moved by erosion and other geographic components. For instance, through prolonged erosion, mass movements and weathering, water washed away the materials sediments and bodies, which then sedimented on rock barriers and pits, forming rocks and other archaeological inventions. This can be proved by the evidence of cave bears, murals, rocks, sediments, and other materials found in the pit and the neighboring archaeological and anthropological sites.