Meet Homo naledi
Cavers Steven Tucker and Rick Hunter were spelunking in South Africa and uncovered one of the most significant discoveries in human evolution in last 50 years – the skulls and remains of Homo naledi.
Not Quite Human, But Close
The new hominin species was announced in September by an international team of more than 60 scientists led by American paleoanthropologist Lee R. Berger, also a professor of human evolution studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The species name, H. naledi, signifies the cave where the bones were discovered. “naledi” means “star” in the Sesotho language.
Homo Neladi, although close to being human, it is not. The species had a tiny brain, around half the size of a humans, and a large ape like body. Tucker and Hunter were exploring the Rising Star cave outside of Johannesburg, aka the Cradle of Humankind, two years ago and found a trove of human-like skeletons.
Although the cave had been traversed many times in the past, these remains were distinguished for having small wiry frames.
The Details
Hunter and Tucker knew the importance of the discovery and immediately set out to find a team to help extract the remains. They made a post on Facebook that quickly skyrocketed, and they received many supporters. From those, they strategically chose 6 women to form a team and extract the skeletons.
Altogether the team extracted 1,550 specimens. They were able to recover four partial skulls, two males and two females. They also found nearly complete skeletons. There were adult, juvenile and infant remains extracted,
Approximately 20 scientists from 15 countries studied the findings both on and off site and are sharing their discoveries as they happen.
Homo Neladi is even closer to being human than its found predecessor, Homo erectus, which is dated to having lived 1.6 million years ago.
Homo neladi has not been carbon dated yet.
The creatures were practically half human. The teeth were close to being human; the back half match while the front half does not. The hip’s top half is human like and the bottom half ape like.
Humans are partially defined by their logical processes, so Darwin, eat your heart out.
