ABSTRACT
In the last chapter I used chimpanzees as an heuristic to develop core elements of morbidity and mortuary activity, and suggested that these could extend to all hominids, given a degree of regional and chronological variability. The main elements of this core include Cronos compulsions, morbidity of the corpse, mourning and social theatre around corpses. I shall make the assumption here that one might expect various expressions of these for most or all of the genera and species of early hominids from the Late Miocene onwards. Thus, one might envisage elements of these being played out by Ardipithecus ramidus in the forests of Aramis, by Australopithecus anamensis around Lake Turkana, Paranthropus boisei in the grasslands of Olduvai, and Australopithecus africanus in the forests around Sterkfontein.
