Amazing haul of ancient human finds unveiled
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39842975Amazing haul of ancient human finds unveiled
By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website
53 minutes ago
From the section Science & Environment
A new haul of ancient human remains has been described from an important cave site in South Africa. The finds, including a well-preserved skull, bolster the idea that the Homo naledi people deliberately deposited their dead in the cave. Evidence of such complex behaviour is surprising for a human species with a brain that's a third the size of ours.
Despite showing some primitive traits it lived relatively recently, perhaps as little as 235,000 years ago. That would mean the naledi people could have overlapped with the earliest of our kind - Homo sapiens.
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In a slew of papers published in the journal eLife, Prof Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Prof John Hawks from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, and their collaborators have outlined details of the new specimens and, importantly, ages for the remains.
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The latest specimens include the remains of at least three individuals - two adults and a child. One of the adults has a "wonderfully complete skull", according to Prof Hawks. This tough-looking specimen is probably male, and has been named "Neo", which means "a gift" in the Sesotho language of southern Africa. Examination of its limb bones shows that it was equally comfortable climbing and walking.
The fact that Homo naledi was alive at the same time and in the same region of Africa as early forms of Homo sapiens gives us an insight into the huge diversity of different human forms in existence during the Late Pleistocene.
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Here is the discovery cave. Note the less than eight inch gap at Dragon's Back that had to be traversed, much smaller than guys could manage, with a long drop at the end.
Here are the six women who squeezed into the Homo Naledi chamber.
They were specifically selected for their spelunking abilities, their small stature, their lack of claustrophobia, and their abilities in physical anthropology. BTW, they were all volunteers.
This is an absolutely incredible story.
Highly recommended!
BTW, 20 cm is 7.87 inches. These women squeezed through such a narrow gap! An astounding accomplishment on its own! Then there's their discovery.
SCIENCE RULES!
Here's coverage in "The Guardian" (UK):
Small Spelunkers Required... This is an incredible story.
Here's some of them in situ:
