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[Sharon.]

AFRICA of course.

Homo naledi: New species of human ancestor discovered in South Africa

Rising Star Cave, South Africa (CNN)When an amateur caver and university geologist arrived at Lee Berger's house one night in late 2013 with a fragment of a fossil jawbone in hand, they broke out the beers and called National Geographic.

Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, had unearthed some major finds before. But he knew he had something big on his hands.

What he didn't know at the time is that it would shake up our understanding of the progress of human evolution and even pose new questions about our identity.

Two years after they were tipped off by cavers plumbing the depths of the limestone tunnels in the Rising Star Cave outside Johannesburg, Berger and his team have discovered what they say is a new addition to our family tree.

The team is calling this new species of human relative "Homo naledi," and they say it appears to have buried its dead -- a behavior scientists previously thought was limited to humans.

Berger's team came up with the startling theory just days after reaching the place where the fossils -- consisting of infants, children, adults and elderly individuals -- were found, in a previously isolated chamber within the cave.

The team believes that the chamber, located 30 meters underground in the Cradle of Humanity world heritage site, was a burial ground -- and that Homo naledi could have used fire to light the way.

"There is no damage from predators, there is no sign of a catastrophe. We had to come to the inevitable conclusion that Homo naledi, a non-human species of hominid, was deliberately disposing of its dead in that dark chamber. Why, we don't know," Berger told CNN.

"Until the moment of discovery of 'naledi,' I would have probably said to you that it was our defining character. The idea of burial of the dead or ritualized body disposal is something utterly uniquely human."

Standing at the entrance to the cave this week, Berger said: "We have just encountered another species that perhaps thought about its own mortality, and went to great risk and effort to dispose of its dead in a deep, remote, chamber right behind us."

"It absolutely questions what makes us human. And I don't think we know anymore what does."

The first undisputed human burial dates to some 100,000 years ago, but because Berger's team hasn't yet been able to date naledi's fossils, they aren't clear how significant their theory is.

Berger tried to put the new find into perspective.

"This is like opening up Tutankhamen's tomb," he said. "It is that extreme and perhaps that influential in this stage of our history."

Almost human but not quite

Homo naledi is a strange mosaic of the ancient and the thoroughly modern.

Naledi's brain was no bigger than an orange, scientists say. Its hands are superficially human-like, but the finger bones are locked into a curve -- a trait that suggests climbing and tool-using capabilities.

Homo naledi was relatively big: it stood about 5 feet tall, had long legs, and its feet are almost identical to ours, suggesting it had the ability to walk long distances.

Homo naledi: New species of human ancestor discovered in South Africa

By David McKenzie and Hamilton Wende, CNN

Updated 1740 GMT (0040 HKT) September 10, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Homo naledi: Scientists find ancient human relative
Story highlights

    Scientists say they have discovered a new species of human relative in South Africa
    "Homo naledi" appears to have buried its dead -- a behavior previously though limited to humans
    The discovery could transform our understanding of human evolution

Rising Star Cave, South Africa (CNN)When an amateur caver and university geologist arrived at Lee Berger's house one night in late 2013 with a fragment of a fossil jawbone in hand, they broke out the beers and called National Geographic.

Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, had unearthed some major finds before. But he knew he had something big on his hands.

What he didn't know at the time is that it would shake up our understanding of the progress of human evolution and even pose new questions about our identity.

Two years after they were tipped off by cavers plumbing the depths of the limestone tunnels in the Rising Star Cave outside Johannesburg, Berger and his team have discovered what they say is a new addition to our family tree.

The team is calling this new species of human relative "Homo naledi," and they say it appears to have buried its dead -- a behavior scientists previously thought was limited to humans.

Berger's team came up with the startling theory just days after reaching the place where the fossils -- consisting of infants, children, adults and elderly individuals -- were found, in a previously isolated chamber within the cave.

The team believes that the chamber, located 30 meters underground in the Cradle of Humanity world heritage site, was a burial ground -- and that Homo naledi could have used fire to light the way.

"There is no damage from predators, there is no sign of a catastrophe. We had to come to the inevitable conclusion that Homo naledi, a non-human species of hominid, was deliberately disposing of its dead in that dark chamber. Why, we don't know," Berger told CNN.

"Until the moment of discovery of 'naledi,' I would have probably said to you that it was our defining character. The idea of burial of the dead or ritualized body disposal is something utterly uniquely human."

Standing at the entrance to the cave this week, Berger said: "We have just encountered another species that perhaps thought about its own mortality, and went to great risk and effort to dispose of its dead in a deep, remote, chamber right behind us."

"It absolutely questions what makes us human. And I don't think we know anymore what does."

The first undisputed human burial dates to some 100,000 years ago, but because Berger's team hasn't yet been able to date naledi's fossils, they aren't clear how significant their theory is.

Berger tried to put the new find into perspective.

"This is like opening up Tutankhamen's tomb," he said. "It is that extreme and perhaps that influential in this stage of our history."

Almost human but not quite

Homo naledi is a strange mosaic of the ancient and the thoroughly modern.

Naledi's brain was no bigger than an orange, scientists say. Its hands are superficially human-like, but the finger bones are locked into a curve -- a trait that suggests climbing and tool-using capabilities.

Homo naledi was relatively big: it stood about 5 feet tall, had long legs, and its feet are almost identical to ours, suggesting it had the ability to walk long distances.
The braincase of a male Homo naledi is less than half the size of the modern human skull.
The braincase of a male Homo naledi is less than half the size of the modern human skull.

"Overall, Homo naledi looks like one of the most primitive members of our genus, but it also has some surprisingly human-like features, enough to warrant placing it in the genus Homo," says John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a senior author on the papers describing the new species that were published Thursday.

The scientists can make these claims, in part, because of the sheer scale of the find.

In the vault at the University of Witwatersrand, hundreds of priceless specimens lie in padded cases across the room.

So far they've unearthed more than 1,500 fossil remains in total -- the largest single hominin find yet revealed on the continent of Africa, the cradle of human evolution.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/10/africa/homo-naledi-human-relative-species/

[Plank]

this is craz' n int'resting


id like to rlly kno wat happen in tht chamber

[GLOCK]

so they just all killed themselves?
absolutely NOT..
someone did this mess
maybe the true humans were afraid they might be too powerful
i wonder if they could speak

[Young]

Crazy

[AIDS!]

My home is full of mytery and wonders

[BrandyFromTheFuture]

so they just all killed themselves?
absolutely NOT..
someone did this mess
maybe the true humans were afraid they might be too powerful
i wonder if they could speak

They're saying they were a pre-homo sapiens of sorts. one theory is that they "buried" their dead folk in caves and stuff...thats why the remains were found there.

[Young]

so they just all killed themselves?
absolutely NOT..
someone did this mess
maybe the true humans were afraid they might be too powerful
i wonder if they could speak

Lol

[Plank]

dxfcghbjnkml

[RekeRig]

so they just all killed themselves?
absolutely NOT..
someone did this mess
maybe the true humans were afraid they might be too powerful
i wonder if they could speak

Lol

boy dgfddddddddd

[JCJ.]

so they just all killed themselves?
absolutely NOT..
someone did this mess
maybe the true humans were afraid they might be too powerful
i wonder if they could speak

Boy WHAT