New species of ancient human - homo naledi discovered

[Beanz]

Homo naledi: New species of ancient human discovered, claim scientists | Science | The Guardian

A huge haul of bones found in a small, dark chamber at the back of a cave in South Africa may be the remnants of a new species of ancient human relative.

Explorers discovered the bones after squeezing through a fissure high in the rear wall of the Rising Star cave, 50km from Johannesburg, before descending down a long, narrow chute to the chamber floor 40 metres beneath the surface.

The entrance chute into the Dinaledi chamber is so tight - a mere eight inches wide - that six lightly built female researchers were brought in to excavate the bones. Footage from their cameras was beamed along 3.5km of optic cable to a command centre above ground as they worked inside the cramped enclosure.

The excavators recovered more than 1,500 pieces of bone belonging to at least 15 individuals. The remains appear to be infants, juveniles and one very old adult. Thousands more pieces of bone are still in the chamber, smothered in the soft dirt that covers the ground.

In this short video, the leaders of the National Geographic-funded project discuss their discovery of the “human ancestor”. The team believes the bones - as yet undated - represent a new species of ancient human relative. They have named the creature Homo naledi, where naledi means “star” in Sesotho, one of the official languages of South Africa, and the primary official language of Lesotho. But other experts on human origins say the claim is unjustified, at least on the evidence gathered so far. The bones, they argue, look strikingly similar to those of early Homo erectus, a forerunner of modern humans who wandered southern Africa 1.5m years ago.
“We’ve found a new species that we are placing in the genus Homo, which is really quite remarkable,” said Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist who led the work at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He described the slender, small-brained creatures as “long-legged”, “pinheaded” and “gangly”. The males stood about 5ft, with females a little shorter.

Measurements of the bones show that the creature has a curious blend of ancient ape and modern human-like features. Its brain is tiny, the size of a gorilla’s. Its teeth are small and simple. The thorax is primitive and ape-like, but its hands more modern, their shape well-suited to making basic tools. The feet and ankles are built for walking upright, but its fingers are curved, a feature seen in apes that spend much of their time in the trees. The findings are reported in two papers published in the online journal eLife.

[Master]

I read about this and what was interesting was the way they buried the dead. They were put in a small tunnel/grave and it showed the respect and dignity we show now when we bury our loved ones dating back so long.

[walrus]

It's funny how history changes so quickly. There have also been discoveries in China that are in question. Each new find shows us how little we know.

[Master]

China have the the reptile that first turned into the bird species.

[walrus]

China have the the reptile that first turned into the bird species.

Yrs, I believe China has the most complete fossil record on the planet. In a statement the released several years ago they stated the fossil record does not fit in with evolution, too many missing links. They then published several theories to explain the findings and one actually included mention of some type of intelligent creator. I found that odd coming from the Chinese. I'm still reading up on this one beanz mentioned, it was just on the news report but I only caught a minute of it.

[Master]

intelligent creator? What is that?

[Dia bando]

New breed of human-being,! we have them were I live they are called deadheads no one
has the monopoly on this breed, but we have a fair few indeed we do.

[Fenster]

Dr Mathole Motshekga, Executive Director of the Kara Heritage Institute, has dismissed the find of Homo naledi as pseudo-science bent on trying to confirm that Africans are descendants of baboons.

"Africa is the most ancient civilization which produced abundant literature about our origins – but this was suppressed by the west to promote that Africans are subhuman," he said.

"Humanity existed before the universe was formed."

"This thing is inconsistent with reality and supports the theory that we are subhuman. That's why Africans aren't respected by the rest of the world," he said.

Homo naledi promotes Africans as subhuman: Mathole Motshekga | eNCA

Religious lunatics.

[pacfan]

This is not encouraging news. The more they make new discoveries, the more we get closer to apes. I'm pretty happy with my homo sapien status and I hope they can leave it at that.

[p4pking]

^^ Priceless.

[Fenster]