The finding of 15 partial skeletons might prove primitive human lived much more recently
The remains of 15 partial skeletons belonging to the species Homo naledi were found deep in a cave system in South Africa by a team led by Lee Berger from Wits University. Scientists say the primitive type of human, once thought to be up to three million years old, actually lived much more recently, the remains are probably just 200,000 to 300,000 years old.
“These look like a primitive form of our own genus – Homo. It looks like it might be connected to early Homo erectus, or Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis,” said Prof Berger’s colleague, John Hawks, from the University of Wisconsin.
According to Prof Berger, the remains could be up to three million years old. New dating evidence places the species in a time period where Homo naledi could have overlapped with early examples of our own kind, Homo sapiens.
loading...
“They’re the age of Neanderthals in Europe, they’re the age of Denisovans in Asia, they’re the age of early modern humans in Africa. They’re part of this diversity in the world that’s there as our species was originating. We have no idea what else is out there in Africa for us to find – for me that’s the big message. If this lineage, which looks like it originated two million years ago was still hanging around 200,000 years ago, then maybe that’s not the end of it. We haven’t found the last [Homo naledi], we’ve found one”, Prof Hawks told the media.
The finding of naledi remains triggers a controversial theory. They were uncovered in 2013 inside a difficult-to-access chamber within the Rising Star cave system and this would suggest Homo naledi was capable of ritual behaviour while such practices are thought by some to be characteristic of human modernity.
The team has since started exploring a second chamber. “[The second] chamber has the remains of an additional three individuals, at least, including a really, really cool partial skeleton with a skull,” said Prof Hawks.
Researchers have already attempted to extract DNA from the remains to gain more information about naledi’s place in the human evolutionary tree, but without any success.
“[The remains] are obviously at an age where we have every reason to think there might be some chance. The cave is relatively warm compared to the cold caves in northern Europe and Asia where we have really good DNA preservation,” said Prof Hawks.
Loading...