Early Thursday, scientists announced the discovery of a new species of early human that lived sometime near the dawn of modern human beings. Dubbed Homo naledi, the new species had humanlike feet and hands, but a brain the size of an orange. "We've never seen a non-human that shares so many primitive and yet sometimes advanced" features, says Lee Berger of South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, who led the expedition and co-authored the study.
The new species was named for the Rising Star caves in South Africa where it was discovered — naledi means "star" in the Sotho language. The fossils uncovered in the cave — mostly by scientists thin enough to fit through the small opening — were from between 12 and 18 different people, from all age ranges. They were probably placed there when they died. "Homo naldei was doing something that, until this moment, we thought was unique to modern humans," Berger says: "Deliberate disposal of the dead." There is already debate about where H. naledi fits in the hominid family tree, and how old the fossils are. You can learn more in the National Geographic video below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - November 23, 2024Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - qualifications, tax cuts, and more
-
Long summer days in Iceland's highlandsThe Week Recommends While many parts of this volcanic island are barren, there is a 'desolate beauty' to be found in every corner
-
The Democrats: time for wholesale reform?Talking Point In the 'wreckage' of the election, the party must decide how to rebuild
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was rightSpeed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular storiesSpeed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an oceanSpeed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mindSpeed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipseSpeed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeepingSpeed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
-
An amphibian that produces milk?speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
-
Jupiter's Europa has less oxygen than hopedspeed read Scientists say this makes it less likely that Jupiter's moon harbors life
