Tulane professor part of discovery of new human relative

They said they were unable to determine an age for the fossils because of unusual characteristics of the site, but that they’re still trying.

Reed said she believes the discovery is exciting because everyone will have to look at this and start worrying about the date and seeing how is compares to other fossil material. It is also possible that they are comparatively new. Besides shedding light on the origins and diversity of our genus, the new species, Homo naledi, appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to human.

So far, the team has recovered parts of at least 15 individuals of the same species, a small fraction of the fossils believed to remain in the chamber.

According to lead researcher Lee Berger from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the feet of these early humans are almost identical to modern humans, combining with relatively longer legs that suggest that the species was already adapted to bipedal walking.

“We’ve found a new species that we are placing in the genus Homo, which is really quite remarkable”, said Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist who led the work at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The publication also notes some additionally unusual factors in regards to the environment within which the species was found. The dark caves where the bones were discovered allowed only a 7.5 inch entry space, therefore making it virtually impossible for the relatively large human relative to pass in and out of the space.

Scientists said Homo naledi was about 5-feet tall and weighed only about 100 pounds. The new species will be called “Homo naledi“, in honour of the “Rising Star” cave where it was found.

Their skulls are like early humans but very small, the size of an orange.

“Here’s what we know, Homo naledi existed in South Africa, and left some spectacular traces of their passing that we are only now coming to grips with”, said Berger. So this discovery is likely to change our views on what they did with the dead.

Berger and his team say seeing it here contributes to an anthropological significance on par with Tutankhamun’s tomb.