A recent discovery in South Africa is about to change everything we learned about the evolution of man.
Scientists from the University of Witwatersrand along with National Geographic have discovered a new species of the human, called "Homo naledi."
Cavers Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker accidentally stumbled upon ancient skeletons of the species two years ago. They were found in an unexplored part of the Dragon's Back cave, called Dinaledi chamber. This prompted two expeditions in November 2013 and March 2014 to recover the rest of the skeletons.
While the team only expected to find one set of skeleton, they actually were able to unearth 15 skeletons, consisting of over 1,550 fragments. In addition, the team found a variety of age groups: from infants, to teens, to young adults, until the elderly.
According to Unilad:
"And this species seem to display a behavior long believed to be unique to modern humans - burying their dead in an isolated chamber. The fossils were found in a dark, isolated cave that is extremely difficult to access. After ruling out all other possibilities of how they got there, the team deduced that they were ritualistically buried in the cave."
The homo naledi was also found to have human-like hands, and shoulders that have more ability to rotate than ours - suggesting that this species were skilled climbers.
Until now, scientists still have no idea how long the species existed, or how old the remains are. However, they assess that the fossils are at least two million years old.
Scientists have also noted that this species could have been the base for the human genus. Independent UK also notes that these humans were at the most 5 feet, with brains no larger than the size of an orange.
Senior member of the international team, John Hawks of the University of Wisonsin-Madison said:
"Overall, H. naledi looks like one of the most primitive members of our genus, but it also has some surprisingly human-like features, enough to warrant placing it in the genus Homo. [...] H. naledi had a tiny brain, about the size of an orange - about 500 cubic centimeters - perched atop a very slender body... it's a creature that looks like no other hominin before."
Maybe it's time for those school textbooks to be updated.
