Photo: National Geographic / dpa Picture Alliance
Incredible find in a cave
In South Africa, researchers have now discovered a hitherto completely unknown human species. Her name: Homo naledi.
Researchers have made an impressive find in a cave. They discovered a hitherto completely unknown human species . Homo naledi, as he was baptized, is an ancestor of modern man, Homo sapiens.
In total, fossils were discovered by 15 individuals of different ages (from infants to the elderly), all suggesting that the Homo naledi had a very delicately built body. He was 1.50 meters tall and weighed 45 pounds. While in some ways it is still very similar to our earliest ancestors, other parts of the body are more like those of Homo sapiens. So the feet of Homo naledi are almost confusingly similar to those of a modern man. In addition, the early man should have been able to work with tools. Teeth and shoulder bones resemble those of our earliest ancestor: Homo habilis. The brain of Homo naledi is only as big as a clenched fist.
Already in 2013, researchers from the Witwatersrand University (South Africa) were informed by cave climbers that they had found bones in the Rising Star Cave in the Dinaledi Chamber near Johannesburg. When the researchers began excavation on the ground, they made an extensive find: Homo naledi's remains. In total, more than 1, 550 pieces have already been recovered from the cave. At this time, one is not sure how many fossils could still be in the cave.
It was not easy to recover the remains. For the fossils of the previously unknown human species were in a part of the cave, which could only be reached by a very narrow, just 18 cm high gap. The site gives the researchers reason to believe that the 15 found individuals were buried - a ritual that had previously been attributed only to Homo sapiens. Due to the protected position, the bones are in a relatively good condition. In addition, most of the bones are present in multiple versions.
How old exactly Homo naledi really is, the researchers can not say at this time.
