Fossil find giant leap for mankind
Discovery deep in SA cave sheds light on early man
EARLY humans buried their dead in caves, scientists have found, after discovering a new species hidden in a burial chamber. At least 15 skeletons of the species – named Homo naledi – were found hidden deep in the Rising Star cave in Muldersdrift, Gauteng.
It is thought to be the earliest form of ritual burial site ever discovered.
“It was right under our noses in the most explored valley of the continent of Africa,” University of the Witwatersrand research professor Lee Berger said yesterday.
The early humans stood just 1.5m tall and weighed about 45kg.
Their hips were similar to our earliest ancestor, the hominid Lucy, but their shoulders were well designed for climbing and legs and feet were human-like.
Their skulls are like those of early humans, but their brains are tiny, just the size of an orange.
Before the discovery, scientists believed that only Homo sapiens had enough compassion and self-awareness to bury their dead.
“It was a species we never suspected of complex behaviour,” Berger said.
“We thought of them as little more than animals.
“We have eliminated that this was a mass death.
“We have eliminated the possibility of catastrophe.
“These individuals came in one at a time over a long period. They were not taken there by carnivores. We are also left with the idea that they did not live there. There is no archaeology.
“That has led us to the rather remarkable conclusion that we have just met a new species of human relative that deliberately disposed of its dead inside of the chamber in the Cradle of Mankind [in Maropeng, Gauteng].
“Until this discovery we thought that ritualised behaviours directed towards the dead, things like burial, were totally unique to Homo sapiens. It perhaps, in fact, identified us. It may have been our singularly unique thing. “We saw ourselves as different. “We have now seen a species with the same capacity and that is an extraordinary thing,” Berger said.
The new species was found in a remote cave 50km northwest of Johannesburg.
The 1 550 fossil elements excavated are believed to be parts of at least 15 infants, children, adults and elderly of the same species – and are just a small fraction of the fossils discovered.
Announced by the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Geographic Society and the Department of Science and Technology yesterday, the discovery sheds light on the origins and diversity of human ancestry.
“Today [yesterday] will be written into the history books as one of those moments in which the world learnt something new and remarkable‚” Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“The discovery of a new species of primitive hominin [human and human-related] in our own genus reveals much about our ancestors. In time‚ it may reveal much about ourselves.
“This find will generate interest beyond the scientific community. It will inspire poets and writers to revisit Africa’s rich oral traditions‚ and to imagine ways to retell the story of our common ancestry,” he said.
“It will encourage us to inquire further about the whole scope of human existence‚ the world around us‚ and the world before us.
“We expect it will catch the imagination and stimulate the interest of people across the world – people who are excited about knowledge and learning.
“We are delighted that discoveries that we would never have imagined have been found here at the southern tip of the African continent.”
The initial discovery was made in
2013 in the Rising Star cave in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. The word, naledi, means “star” in Sesotho.
The fossil material was recovered during two expeditions, in November 2013 and March last year.
The fossils lay in a chamber about 90m from the cave entrance, accessible only through a chute just 18cm wide.
In the first expedition, over a period of 21 days more than 60 cavers and scientists worked together to remove the fossils from the chamber.
The task required a special team of slender cavers, dubbed “underground astronauts”, to remove the material.
Marina Elliott, one of the excavating scientists, described the process as “some of the most difficult and dangerous conditions ever encountered in the search for human origins”.
Elliott was one of six women selected after a global search for experienced cavers who could fit through the opening.
The fossils were analysed in May last year with more than 50 scientists and researchers studying the treasure trove.
One of the researchers, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: “Overall, Homo naledi looks like one of the most primitive members of our genus, but it also has some surprisingly human-like features, enough to warrant placing it in the genus Homo.
“H. naledi had a tiny brain, about the size of an average orange, perched atop a very slender body.”
H. naledi’s teeth are described as similar to those of the earliest-known human relatives, as are most features of the skull but the shoulders are more like those of apes.
Dr Tracy Kivell of the University of Kent, in the UK, said: “The hands suggest tool-using capabilities.
“What’s important for people to understand is that the remains were found practically alone in this remote chamber in the absence of any other major fossil animals.
“Surprisingly, H. naledi has extremely curved fingers, more so than almost any other species of early hominin, which clearly demonstrates climbing capabilities.”
Dr William Harcourt-Smith, of the American Museum of Natural History, who led the study of H. naledi’s feet, described them as “virtually indistinguishable from those of modern humans”.
“The feet, combined with its long legs, suggest that the species was well suited for long-distance walking,” he said.
Berger said: “The combination of anatomical features in H. naledi distinguishes it from any previously known species.”
The researchers say the most remarkable aspect is that they practised a form of behaviour thought to be unique to humans – depositing their dead in a remote chamber.
Dr Paul Dirks, of James Cook University in Australia, said: “That room has always been isolated from other chambers and never been open directly to the surface.”
Despite the dramatic revelation researchers claim a lot remains to be discovered from the cave.
Berger said: “This chamber has not given up all of its secrets. There are potentially hundreds if not thousands of remains of H. naledi still down there.” – The Telegraph, additional reporting by Reuters