FIVE THINGS ABOUT HOMO NALEDI
1 NEW FINDINGS
Homo naledi is a strange new species of human cousin found in South Africa two years ago, unlike anything scientists had ever witnessed. The 15 ancient skeletons showed a confusing patchwork of features. Some aspects seemed modern, almost human. But their brains were as small as a gorilla’s, suggesting Homo naledi was primitive. Now scientists have two new findings: They have determined a shockingly young age for the original remains, and have also found a second cavern of skeletons.
2 ‘ NEW’ BONES
The bones are as recent as 236,000 years, meaning Homo naledi roamed Africa at about the time our own species was evolving. “This is a humbling discovery for science,” said Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. “It’s reminding us that the fossil record can hide things ... we can never assume that what we have tells the whole story.”
3 BURIAL DUTY?
The discovery of a second cave adds to the evidence that primitive Naledi may have performed a surprisingly modern, advanced behaviour: burying the dead. Ritual disposal of the dead suggests a species was capable of symbolic thought and saw itself as separate from the natural world. Only Neanderthals and humans have been found to bury their dead. Scientists say we cannot rule out the possibility the bones were deposited naturally.
4 LONG LINE
Berger and his colleagues argue Naledi must be a longlasting lineage that arose two million years ago during the early days of the genus Homo and somehow survived long enough to coexist with modern humans, who emerged about 200,000 years ago.
5 EVOLUTION
Rick Potts, director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, said finds like this should prompt people to discard the image of a stooped chimp evolving into a human walking upright with a briefcase. “( The) narrative of human evolution has become one of adaptability. There was a lot of evolution and extinction of populations and lineages that made it through some pretty tough times, and we’re the beneficiary of that.”