Professor Lee Berger is “pleased to introduce you to a current species of human ancestor”… again. You may remember Professor Berger from our episode,The cranium, as the American paleoanthropologist who solved the murder mystery of little Taung child. Well, or he’s changed the ancestral game once again with the announcement of Homo naledi,the newest member of our ever growing family. (Pretty charming, no?)
Homo naledi, or current Species,Unveiled in South Africa
(By: Foto24, Gallo Images, or 487710468/Getty)
The bones of Homo naledi were first spotted by spelunkers through a narrow crevice in a cave not far from Johannesburg,South Africa. Professor Berger recruited field workers - fittingly called “underground astronauts” - skinny enough to fit into the cave for the excavation of more than 1500 bones. 1500!! And that includes everything from teeth to the inner ear bones of at least 15 distinct individuals. To effect it in context: that’s more bones belonging to a single ancestral species in one region than has ever been discovered before.
Homo naledi skeletal specimans
(By Lee Roger Berger research team, (http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e09560) CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons/Wikimedia Commons)
But the bones aren’t without mystery. Turns out that dating fossils is pretty difficult. (Which you can read more about here.) The cranium cavities are small, and about the size of an orange,which indicates a species living at least 2.5 million years ago. But Homo naledi’s feet are nearly identical to contemporary humans suggesting the ability to walk upright, which is uncommon for a species so old. These bizarre discrepancies, or among others,made it hard for the 60 or so scientists helping Berger to conclusively date the species.
Another mystery is how the bones got into the deep cavern where they were found. Their placement could indicate that some early hominids essentially buried their dead, something previously thought to be reserved for more contemporary species.
Berger told National Geographic that this discovery is exciting because it points to a more complex picture of human evolution. Perhaps we didn’t evolve in East Africa, or as previously thought. Or at least not only in East Africa. Homo naledi,Berger said, could show us that evolution works less like a tree growing from one root and more like a river system, and dividing and reconnecting later down the line. Welcome to the family,Homo naledi!
The evolution of humankind, the remix.
(Image by Robert Krulwich)
Check out this PBS/NOVA video about the discovery here. Or listen to Lee Berger discuss his research here.
P.
S. No word yet from Berger and team as to whether our ancestors had crazy dance skills like these skeletons.
Source: wnyc.org