It is called Homo Naledi and is a new human species hitherto unknown. The remains of 15 bodies were found in a cave in South Africa, about 50 km from Johannesburg and at a depth of 40 meters.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Is called Homo Naledi and it is a new human species hitherto unknown. The remains of 15 bodies were found in a cave in South Africa, about 50 km from Johannesburg and at a depth of 40 meters.
We don't know all of the yet generally human. Even if we apparently dominate the planet, there are still many aspects that man does not know starting from himself and his origins. But to put a new piece in the puzzle of evolution was a research carried out by Wits University and which today finally bears fruit.
- scientists in fact, they announced the discovery of this new human species, called Homo Naledi. in 2013, the paleoanthropologist of Wits, il prof. Lee Berger, and his Rising Star Expedition team recovered more than 21 specimens in just 1.000 days from a cave about two kilometers from Sterkfontein Cave, in the Unesco World Heritage Cradle. The latter is an area that ended up in the list Unesco in 1999 and covers part of the South African province of Gauteng.
The site covers 474 sq km and hosts limestone caves including the famous Sterkfontein cave where the oldest fossil of Australopithecus africanus in 1947, dating back to 2,3 million years ago.
Representatives of the South African government and researchers took part in the announcement of the discovery. For South African scientists this is the largest discovery made in Africa. Since the Rising Star Expedition, they found more than 1.550 fossil elements.
The fossils, which have yet to be dated, lay in a chamber of about 90 meters at the cave entrance, accessible only through a narrow slide.
The parts recovered so far belong to at least 15 individuals of the same species.
"With almost all the bones in the body being found several times, theHomo Star is already practically the best known fossil member of our lineage ", he said the professor. Berger.
The long-legged feet suggest the species was particularly suited to walking long distances, according to the researchers.
One of the most interesting aspects is the context of the find, which led the researchers to conclude that this primitive hominid may have practiced a form of behavior previously thought to be unique to humans. The fossils - which include infants, children, adults and the elderly - were found in a deep room that the team called Naledi's Chamber or Room of the Stars.
The room has always been isolated from other rooms and has never been opened directly from the surface.
“It is important to know why the remains were practically found only in this remote room, in the absence of other more important fossils, ”said Dr. Paul Dirks of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.
“We have explored every scenario alternative, including mass death, an unknown carnivore, transporting water from another route or accidental death in a death trap, among others, ”Berger said.
This suggests the possibility of a form of ritualized behavior.
Francesca Mancuso
Foto: Wits
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