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nitpicker

(7,153 posts)
Tue May 9, 2017, 04:01 AM May 2017

Amazing haul of ancient human finds unveiled

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39842975

Amazing haul of ancient human finds unveiled

By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website

53 minutes ago

From the section Science & Environment

A new haul of ancient human remains has been described from an important cave site in South Africa. The finds, including a well-preserved skull, bolster the idea that the Homo naledi people deliberately deposited their dead in the cave. Evidence of such complex behaviour is surprising for a human species with a brain that's a third the size of ours.

Despite showing some primitive traits it lived relatively recently, perhaps as little as 235,000 years ago. That would mean the naledi people could have overlapped with the earliest of our kind - Homo sapiens.
(snip)

In a slew of papers published in the journal eLife, Prof Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Prof John Hawks from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, and their collaborators have outlined details of the new specimens and, importantly, ages for the remains.
(snip)

The latest specimens include the remains of at least three individuals - two adults and a child. One of the adults has a "wonderfully complete skull", according to Prof Hawks. This tough-looking specimen is probably male, and has been named "Neo", which means "a gift" in the Sesotho language of southern Africa. Examination of its limb bones shows that it was equally comfortable climbing and walking.

The fact that Homo naledi was alive at the same time and in the same region of Africa as early forms of Homo sapiens gives us an insight into the huge diversity of different human forms in existence during the Late Pleistocene.
(snip)
6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Amazing haul of ancient human finds unveiled (Original Post) nitpicker May 2017 OP
I've done some guided cave exploring. Throck May 2017 #1
Here is some incredible details of the women who made this discovery. longship May 2017 #2
Someone PLEASE widen that gap, before someone gets stuck ! nt eppur_se_muova May 2017 #4
That is probably not possible. longship May 2017 #5
I recall those ladies being recruited... IthinkThereforeIAM May 2017 #3
Tremendous info. and responses. Thank you. n/t Judi Lynn May 2017 #6

Throck

(2,520 posts)
1. I've done some guided cave exploring.
Tue May 9, 2017, 05:01 AM
May 2017

Always thought it would be cool to find some ancient stash. Best we did was find a dead cow that fell down a sink hole.

longship

(40,416 posts)
2. Here is some incredible details of the women who made this discovery.
Tue May 9, 2017, 05:40 AM
May 2017

Here is the discovery cave. Note the less than eight inch gap at Dragon's Back that had to be traversed, much smaller than guys could manage, with a long drop at the end.


Here are the six women who squeezed into the Homo Naledi chamber.

They were specifically selected for their spelunking abilities, their small stature, their lack of claustrophobia, and their abilities in physical anthropology. BTW, they were all volunteers.

This is an absolutely incredible story.

Highly recommended!



BTW, 20 cm is 7.87 inches. These women squeezed through such a narrow gap! An astounding accomplishment on its own! Then there's their discovery.

SCIENCE RULES!

Here's coverage in "The Guardian" (UK):
Small Spelunkers Required... This is an incredible story.

Here's some of them in situ:

longship

(40,416 posts)
5. That is probably not possible.
Tue May 9, 2017, 02:09 PM
May 2017

The cave may not be stable if one goes in there with jack hammers. For whatever reason, one cannot just widen the passages. Anyway, why put the entire site in jeopardy?

The naledi got in and out of there without getting stuck and now so also did six absolutely incredible women.

IthinkThereforeIAM

(3,112 posts)
3. I recall those ladies being recruited...
Tue May 9, 2017, 06:26 AM
May 2017

... the call to universities for ladies of certain physical stature/characteristics was put out as the passageways were so narrow.

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