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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A pet monkey was buried some 4,000 years ago with same rites as humans

Rhesus macaque, perhaps an elite gift, was interred with a type of pottery also found in human graves.
The skeleton of a rhesus macaque buried in a cemetery in the ancient settlement of Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran

This young rhesus macaque was buried in 2800–2200 BC in a human cemetery near the modern-day Iran–Afghanistan border. Credit: Claudia Minniti

Modern people aren’t the first to cherish their animal companions. A monkey that died more than 4,000 years ago in the Middle East was laid to rest in a human cemetery in a type of grave used for infants, suggesting that it was a treasured pet.

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Nature 567, 436 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00889-1

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