IS A NEW HUMAN SPECIES EMERGING FROM AN UNDERGROUND CAVE?

Elizabeth Rayne
@quothravenrayne
Jan 5, 2021, 8:45 PM EST (Updated)

Most of us know by now that if anyone ever thinks "Neanderthal" is an insult, it’s probably true on both ends, because Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals. But is another human species hiding somewhere in our past?

Deep in the caves of Johannesburg, South Africa, many ancient human remains have been found. Lee Berger and his research team from the University of the Witwatersrand have found human bones that have survived thousands and thousands of years. They previously unearthed two new hominid species, and might have just stumbled on another one. Some of the many bone fragments scattered in Cave UW 105 stood out. These remains are unlike any from known hominids or modern humans — possibly an altogether different species.

What began the quest to find out the identify of this mysterious human ancestor was a lower jaw fragment with just one tooth hanging on. Because it was initially piled up with bones and rubble from another excavation, it was set aside. Further investigation found between 100 and 150 pieces of ancient human bone. There were pieces of skulls, shoulder blades, teeth, and limb bones from at least four individuals, including an adult and two juveniles, that were out of place among known hominids.

Every time Berger and his team tried to make a connection between a known hominid species and the new bones they dug up, something didn’t fit. The closest they got was a molar found in Gondolin cave (shoutout to all you hardcore Tolkien fans out there who really know The Silmarillion). Even though the teeth looked similar to this molar, which belonged to Paranthropus Robusts, it was still not a match. P. Robustus appeared sometime between 1 and 2 million years ago. Its large, tough teeth had thick enamel and a strong jaw, thought to be ideal for tearing through plants that were otherwise difficult to chew.

More:
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/is-a-new-human-species-emerging-from-a-cave

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Older article:

May 9, 2017

Early human fossils found in South African cave system
Kim Eckart
UW News

An international team of scientists, including one from the University of Washington, has announced the discovery of additional remains of a new human species, Homo naledi, in a series of caves northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa.

The find includes the remains of two adults and a child in the Lesedi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave system, expanding the fossil record originally reported from a different chamber of the cave in 2015.

Details of the latest discovery are published May 9 in two papers in eLife, along with another paper from the research team that pinpoints an age range of the original Rising Star fossils, which comprised 15 different individuals. Those remains of a primitive, small-brained human ancestor that scientists dubbed Homo naledi were found in Rising Star’s Dinaledi Chamber and are believed to be between 236,000 and 335,000 years old. This means that Homo naledi may have coexisted, for a period of time, with Homo sapiens, the species of modern humans.

“We can no longer assume that we know which species made tools, or even assume that it was modern humans that were the innovators of some of these critical technological and behavioral breakthroughs in the archaeological record of Africa,” said Professor Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, who assembled the team that first explored the Rising Star system in 2013 and is an author on the latest papers. “If there is one other species out there that shared the world with ‘modern humans’ in Africa, it is very likely there are others. We just need to find them.”

More:
https://www.washington.edu/news/2017/05/09/early-human-fossils-found-in-south-african-cave-system/

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South African Cave System Yields Yet More Fossils of Homo naledi
May 9, 2017 by News Staff / Source

The new chamber, dubbed the Lesedi Chamber (means ‘light’ in the Setswana language), is about 330 feet (100 m) from the remote, nearly inaccessible Dinaledi Chamber where the first Homo naledi fossils representing at least 15 individuals were found.

The chamber is 98 feet (30 m) below the surface and there is no direct route between it and the Dinaledi Chamber. It is also exceedingly difficult to access, requiring those excavating the fossils to crawl, climb and squeeze their way in pitch dark to the fossil cache.

“To access the Lesedi Chamber is only slightly easier than the Dinaledi Chamber. After passing through a squeeze of about 10 inches (25 cm), you have to descend along vertical shafts before reaching the chamber,” said co-author Dr. Marina Elliott, an exploration scientist at the University of Witwatersrand.

“While slightly easier to get to, the Lesedi Chamber is, if anything, more difficult to work in due to the tight spaces involved.”

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More:
http://www.sci-news.com/featurednews/homo-naledi-fossils-04843.html