Homo Naledi

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I'm surprised that nobody has posted about this yet but there's been a discovery of a new species of hominid that was only announced last week. Basically, until now, the oldest known member of the genus homo (the human family tree) from our evolutionary past was Homo Habilis. Older than that, we only know about the australopithecines which could of been the common ancestor between humans and chimpanzees.

Last week it was announced that they've made a new discovery of a new member of the genus homo, which based on it's anatomical features, the discoverers think that it was an early human that could be placed between the australopithecines (such as the fossil of Lucy) and Homo Habilis, which that the species could of lived between 2.5 and 3 million years ago, and it would make it older than Homo Habilis, though the fossils themselves haven't been dated yet. The species has been named Homo Naledi after the cave the fossils were found in.

What makes the find even more remarkable is that they found up to 15 complete skeletons in chamber of the cave that it almost impossible to reach, leading Prof Lee Burger and others to believe that they were put there deliberately in some kind of burial ritual. So, previously paleoanthropologists thought that only hominids closer to modern humans buried their dead but this seems to be evidence that the most primitive of our human ancestors yet found were already doing it.

Here's an article about it:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/

It is a very exciting find and the anatomical features alone are amazing. Finding so many complete skeletons of a previously unknown species is also an insane stroke of luck...particularly considering it includes members of all ages.

however.....

there are a few things that need to be kept in mind before the hype gets out of control...

1- The archaeologist that discovered this is known to and has in the past, rush to conclusions, particularly about assigning a new hominid species to fossils he finds without doing a detailed analysis of them. Not just once but twice already (and one of those that i know of he published claims and then was refuted and proven he was wrong). The man seems to be a media seeker first scientist later. I've read his own defense of these events and while I agree in many ways that discoveries and information need to be made public for all to examine (not hidden behind paywalls or professional paper publishers) its still irresponsible to assume results before the detailed analysis is completed.

2- NatGeo was sold to FOX. This significantly increases the chances of announcing stuff for headlines and clickbaits than any actual information being the focus of the company. In short, NatGeo is now like the history channel... reality shows and ALIENS type garbage will become its norm very soon.

3- Part of the detailed analysis that is missing is the actual dating of the fossils and the place they were found in. Until that is determined, this hominid (if it is one) could very well be older than lucy or it could've been around in Africa just a mere 10k years ago.

4- That it deposited its dead is an amazing claim...and again, one that should not be made until exhaustive research is done. So far things do seem to indicate that the creatures were not exposed to elements or carrion eaters or such... but then again, there's nothing to say they were just a small band of creatures taking refuge there and then they died of something (disease? gas poisoning? hunger?).

I do hope this is a new, unknown hominin.. I do hope it is older than lucy and I do hope that it did deposit its dead there. Time will tell

Thanks for the link. I wrote that when all that was out there was the announcement of it and the barebones info.

Thank you both for your discussion

I will wait with excited reticence for the strata, palynology and specimens to be dated and for intense peer review to be conducted.

Dogdamn this is awesome, if true

What a find

There is a new NOVA episode on this that aired last week or so. It's on the pbs website.