Shireen Zainudin, 3 January 2024

The ground crunched watchfully beneath my boots as I knelt for a closer look at the empty grave marked by picks and string.

He’d been buried in accordance with Palaeolithic custom in a burial pit lined with a thick layer of river shells. His flexed body, curled up in the foetal position, was placed on this base with 12 stone tools, more river shells and nine species of animal flesh accompanying him into the afterlife.