In a rocky outcrop on Mount Carmel, in what is now Israel, a group of ancient humans buried their dead about 140,000 years ago. Scientists uncovered the site, called Skhul Cave, in 1928, and about three years later they found the remains of more than a dozen individuals.

The site is one of the oldest examples of burial practices among ancient humans, but researchers were puzzled by the excavated hominins’ anatomy. Some of their skeletal features resembled those of Homo sapiens, while others were more Neanderthal-like, making the species difficult to classify.

The first skeleton discovered at the Skhul burial site belonged to a child between 3 and 5 years old, most likely a girl. Using high-resolution scans of the child’s cranium and jaw, scientists now propose that the individual possess

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