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Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man

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Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man

One of the richest collections of early-human fossils ever found has been hauled out of an African cave, thanks to the efforts of a handpicked team of scientists slender enough to fit through the narrow

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Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man

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Scientists are revealing details about their discovery of a treasure-trove of fossils in a South African cave that they believe is one of the richest collections of an early-human species ever found. USA TODAY

Mystery man

A reconstruction of Homo naledi’s head by paleoartist John Gurche, who spent some 700 hours recreating the head from bone scans. This photo is running in the October issue of National Geographic magazine.(Photo: Mark Thiessen/National Geographic)

One of the richest collections of early-human fossils ever found has been hauled out of an African cave, thanks to the efforts of a handpicked team of scientists slender enough to fit through ancient narrow passageways, researchers announced today.

The fossils, discovered in the dark reaches of the Rising Star cave in South Africa, belong to a new species that arose at the dawn of the family that includes modern humans, the researchers say in a paper in the scientific journal eLife.

The fossils' age is unknown, but they could be more than 2.5 million years old. Or they could be relatively recent - in the grand scheme of things. Homo sapiens emerged in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago, so the bones are at least that old.

What's more, the bodies may have been deliberately placed in the cave, suggesting that long-ago human relatives were engaged in ritual disposals of their dead.

"It's enormously surprising to see a very primitive member of the genus, something with this small a brain," engaged in an activity that was thought to be unique to modern humans, study co-author Lee Berger of South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand told reporters Wednesday. "None of us expected it."

Lee Berger’s daughter, Megan, and underground exploration

Lee Berger’s daughter, Megan, and underground exploration team member Rick Hunter navigate the narrow chutes leading to the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave in South Africa where fossil elements belonging to H. naledi, a new species of human relative, were discovered. The find was announced by the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Geographic Society and the South African National Research Foundation and published in the journal eLife. (Photo: Robert Clark, National Geographic)

The new species is a strange mishmash of parts. It had hands and feet much like those of other members of the biological group called Homo, which includes our own species, Homo sapiens. Its brain, though, was only about as big as an orange.

The Rising Star ancient humans could manipulate objects with their nimble hands, but their highly curved fingers also made them adept climbers. Their Homo-like feet and long legs show they could walk long distances, but their shoulders are also suited for climbing. The researchers call them Homo naledi, after the word for "star" in the African language Sotho.

The first inkling of the 1,550-plus bits of fossil, representing at least 15 individuals, came from cavers helping Berger prospect for ancient remains. One slot leading to the fossil chamber is just over seven inches wide – less than the width of a sheet of notebook paper.

It took a team including six female scientists, chosen for their small size and research expertise, to retrieve the fossils. The scientists suspect that the bodies were deliberately dropped or laid into the chamber over a long period.

A composite skeleton of H. naledi is surrounded by

A composite skeleton of H. naledi is surrounded by some of the hundreds of other fossil elements recovered from the Dinaledi Chamber in the Rising Star cave in South Africa. The expedition team was led by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand. (Photo: Robert Clark, National Geographic)

Other scientists find the new trove of fossils tantalizing but don't necessarily agree with Berger and his team on what, exactly, has been found.

The fossils are "fabulous and a bit confusing," says New York University's Susan Anton via email. "There are some things in this that just don't look like early Homo," or at least the fossils of early Homo from east Africa.

"The material is spectacular," says the University of Pittsubrgh's Jeffrey Schwartz, adding that he "can't wait to see it." But "the interpretation of it … is doubtful." He points out varying skull shapes, among other features, among the Naledi specimens and argues the Homo family is so poorly defined that it's not clear Naledi fits into it.

Geographic Paleoartist John Gurche used fossils from

Geographic Paleoartist John Gurche used fossils from a South African cave to reconstruct the face of Homo naledi, the newest addition to the genus Homo. (Photo: Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic)

Study co-author John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison responds that the 15 Naledi fossils of each particlar body part are remarkably similar to one another, leading the team to conclude that they are all one species. For example, the dozen-plus Naledi molars differ less from each other than the molars of a small population of modern humans, he says.

The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, the University of the Witswatersrand and South Africa's Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation. For more, see the October issue of National Geographic magazine: http://natgeo.org/naledi.

Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man
  • Overview of the chancel burial excavations. Archaeologists
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Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man

One of the richest collections of early-human fossils ever found has been hauled out of an African cave, thanks to the efforts of a handpicked team of scientists slender enough to fit through the narrow

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Scientists are revealing details about their discovery of a treasure-trove of fossils in a South African cave that they believe is one of the richest collections of an early-human species ever found. USA TODAY

Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man

A reconstruction of Homo naledi’s head by paleoartist John Gurche, who spent some 700 hours recreating the head from bone scans. This photo is running in the October issue of National Geographic magazine.(Photo: Mark Thiessen/National Geographic)

One of the richest collections of early-human fossils ever found has been hauled out of an African cave, thanks to the efforts of a handpicked team of scientists slender enough to fit through ancient narrow passageways, researchers announced today.

The fossils, discovered in the dark reaches of the Rising Star cave in South Africa, belong to a new species that arose at the dawn of the family that includes modern humans, the researchers say in a paper in the scientific journal eLife.

The fossils' age is unknown, but they could be more than 2.5 million years old. Or they could be relatively recent - in the grand scheme of things. Homo sapiens emerged in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago, so the bones are at least that old.

What's more, the bodies may have been deliberately placed in the cave, suggesting that long-ago human relatives were engaged in ritual disposals of their dead.

"It's enormously surprising to see a very primitive member of the genus, something with this small a brain," engaged in an activity that was thought to be unique to modern humans, study co-author Lee Berger of South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand told reporters Wednesday. "None of us expected it."

Mystery man

Lee Berger’s daughter, Megan, and underground exploration team member Rick Hunter navigate the narrow chutes leading to the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave in South Africa where fossil elements belonging to H. naledi, a new species of human relative, were discovered. The find was announced by the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Geographic Society and the South African National Research Foundation and published in the journal eLife. (Photo: Robert Clark, National Geographic)

The new species is a strange mishmash of parts. It had hands and feet much like those of other members of the biological group called Homo, which includes our own species, Homo sapiens. Its brain, though, was only about as big as an orange.

The Rising Star ancient humans could manipulate objects with their nimble hands, but their highly curved fingers also made them adept climbers. Their Homo-like feet and long legs show they could walk long distances, but their shoulders are also suited for climbing. The researchers call them Homo naledi, after the word for "star" in the African language Sotho.

The first inkling of the 1,550-plus bits of fossil, representing at least 15 individuals, came from cavers helping Berger prospect for ancient remains. One slot leading to the fossil chamber is just over seven inches wide – less than the width of a sheet of notebook paper.

It took a team including six female scientists, chosen for their small size and research expertise, to retrieve the fossils. The scientists suspect that the bodies were deliberately dropped or laid into the chamber over a long period.

Lee Berger’s daughter, Megan, and underground exploration

A composite skeleton of H. naledi is surrounded by some of the hundreds of other fossil elements recovered from the Dinaledi Chamber in the Rising Star cave in South Africa. The expedition team was led by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand. (Photo: Robert Clark, National Geographic)

Other scientists find the new trove of fossils tantalizing but don't necessarily agree with Berger and his team on what, exactly, has been found.

The fossils are "fabulous and a bit confusing," says New York University's Susan Anton via email. "There are some things in this that just don't look like early Homo," or at least the fossils of early Homo from east Africa.

"The material is spectacular," says the University of Pittsubrgh's Jeffrey Schwartz, adding that he "can't wait to see it." But "the interpretation of it … is doubtful." He points out varying skull shapes, among other features, among the Naledi specimens and argues the Homo family is so poorly defined that it's not clear Naledi fits into it.

A composite skeleton of H. naledi is surrounded by

Geographic Paleoartist John Gurche used fossils from a South African cave to reconstruct the face of Homo naledi, the newest addition to the genus Homo. (Photo: Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic)

Study co-author John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison responds that the 15 Naledi fossils of each particlar body part are remarkably similar to one another, leading the team to conclude that they are all one species. For example, the dozen-plus Naledi molars differ less from each other than the molars of a small population of modern humans, he says.

The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, the University of the Witswatersrand and South Africa's Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation. For more, see the October issue of National Geographic magazine: http://natgeo.org/naledi.

Geographic Paleoartist John Gurche used fossils from
  • Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man
  • Overview of the chancel burial excavations. Archaeologists
  • Huge holes have been discovered in a Siberian region
  • Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early man

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Ancient fossils in African cave are tantalizing glimpse of early manimageAn artist's impression of stone monoliths found buriedOverview of the chancel burial excavations. ArchaeologistsA massive black hole whose mass is 12 billion timesHuge holes have been discovered in a Siberian regionExoplanet Kepler 421-b orbits its star every 704 days, the longest-known year for an exoplanet, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It was discovered at the "frost line" — the crucial distance that divides rocky planets from gaseous planets about 1,000 light-years from Earth.Unlike the other 60-plus known species of horned dinosaurs, the newly-discovered Mercuriceratops, center, has wing-like protrusions on the side of its skull. Measuring about 20 feet long and weighing more than 2 tons, Mercuriceratops lived about 77 million years ago. The species is named after Mercury, the Roman god with the winged helmet, says Michael Ryan, the lead author of a report published in June on Mercuriceratops in the journal 'Naturwissenschaften.'A sea creature previously thought to be a sea anemone belongs to an order of it's own, researchers found. The Relicanthus daphneae lives near deep sea thermal vents in the Pacific and had been considered a giant sea anemone because of it's boneless, immobile carnivorous state. But while the anemone lost it skeleton over millions of years of evolution, R. daphneae never had them. "Putting these animals in the same group would be like classifying worms and snakes together because neither have legs," says researcher Estefanía Rodríguez. (Picture: A diver looks at a sea anemone off Saba island in the Caribbean in 2012.)Beekeeper Anthony Cantrell of Burlington, Vt., discovered zombie bees in his hive in October, the first time they had been found in the eastern U.S. John Hafernik, a professor from San Francisco State University, discovered the first zombie bees in 2008. A fly called Apocephalus borealis attaches itself to the bee and injects its eggs, which grow inside the bee, Hafernik said. Scientists believe it causes neurological damage resulting in erratic, jerky movement and night activity, "like a zombie," Hafernik told the Associated Press. These aren't undead bees doomed to roam for eternity. They often die only a few hours after showing symptoms, Hafernik said.Potentially the world's oldest-known wine cellar was discovered in what is now present-day Israel. Anthropologist Eric Cline, who helped unearth the site, says the cellar was near a hall where banquets took place in the 75-acre Tel Kabri site in Israel. The ruins date back to about 1700 B.C. Overall, 40 jars, the equivalent of 3,000 bottles of wine, were found packed in a 15-by-25 foot storage room, Cline said.Paleontologists unveiled in November a new dinosaur discovered four years ago in southern Utah that proves giant tyrant dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex were around 10 million years earlier than previously believed. The fossils were found in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in November 2009, and a team of paleontologists spent four years digging them up and traveling the world to confirm they were a new species. Paleontologists believe the dinosaur lived 80 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period on a landmass in the flooded central region of North America.The Cold Spot area resides in the constellation EridanusThe frogs are only found in certain parts of CentralPalaeontologists have found the remnants of the turtle'sA new species of dinosaur had feathers not just on its wings but also on its hind legs, making it one of only a handful of "four-winged" dinosaurs. It also had big, sharp teeth and sharp claws, indicating it was carnivorous. Scientists report in 'Nature Communications' that the extraordinarily long tail feathers of the Changyuraptor yang could have helped save the animal from crash landings.Researchers have discovered evidence of water — enough to fill oceans — embedded in minerals deep beneath the surface of the United States that could alter the current understanding of Earth's composition and how it was formed. Were this water in liquid form, which it is not, the discovery could be considered the planet's largest underground water reservoir, researchers said. The team of researchers, led by geophysicist Steve Jacobsen and seismologist Brandon Schmandt, has found pockets of magma about 400 miles beneath Earth's surface — clear signs of the presence of water, though not in its familiar liquid form. Here is hydrous ringwoodite synthesized from olivine in Jacobson’s laboratory.An exploratory dig for Los Angeles' subway extension project uncovered Ice Age fossils, including geoducks (or large clams, pictured), sand dollars and digger pine tree cones and seeds. A rock found in the dig "appears to have a sea lion skull within it that is perhaps 2 million years or more old," according to the Metro Rail's blog. The expansion of L.A.'s purple line is near the La Brea Tar Pits, where many fossils have been found.The duck-billed dinosaur known as Edmontosaurus regalis was supposed to be a plain Jane of the Cretaceous. Now scientists have discovered that it actually had a spectacular adornment unique in the dinosaur world. A beautifully preserved new fossil shows Edmontosaurus boasted a party hat of jiggly flesh atop its head. Researchers theorize that like a rooster's coxcomb, the crest was brightly colored and served as a signal to others of its kind. Never before have scientists found such a non-bony crest on a dinosaur.The Hubble Space Telescope photographed a never-before-seen asteroid with at least six comet-like tails on Sept. 10, and then again two weeks later. The spinning space rock, designated P/2013 P5, looked like "a rotating lawn sprinkler," says lead investigator David Jewitt of the University of California-Los Angeles.Tamu Massif, a monster volcano roughly the size of Arizona, ranks among the largest such structures in our solar system, 'Nature' reports by way of a Nature Geoscience study. But Tamu Massif differs from typical seamounts in that it has a nearly indiscernible slope—around 1 degree near the summit (which sits 6,500 feet below the surface), and much less near the base, National Geographic reports. And lead author William Sager says other oceanic plateaus could also be volcanoes: "There may be bigger ones out there."
The frogs are only found in certain parts of CentralArchaeologists discovered skeletons which appear to be holding hands during an excavation at the Chapel of St. Morrell in Leicestershire, England, a site of pilgrimage in during the 14th Century.A new species of dinosaur had feathers not just on its wings but also on its hind legs, making it one of only a handful of "four-winged" dinosaurs. It also had big, sharp teeth and sharp claws, indicating it was carnivorous. Scientists report in 'Nature Communications' that the extraordinarily long tail feathers of the Changyuraptor yang could have helped save the animal from crash landings.An exploratory dig for Los Angeles' subway extension project uncovered Ice Age fossils, including geoducks (or large clams, pictured), sand dollars and digger pine tree cones and seeds. A rock found in the dig "appears to have a sea lion skull within it that is perhaps 2 million years or more old," according to the Metro Rail's blog. The expansion of L.A.'s purple line is near the La Brea Tar Pits, where many fossils have been found.The Hubble Space Telescope photographed a never-before-seen asteroid with at least six comet-like tails on Sept. 10, and then again two weeks later. The spinning space rock, designated P/2013 P5, looked like "a rotating lawn sprinkler," says lead investigator David Jewitt of the University of California-Los Angeles.
Palaeontologists have found the remnants of the turtle's
A drawing of the world's largest-ever flying bird, Pelagornis sandersi, shows its size next to a California condor, bottom left, and a Royal albatross, bottom right. The giant bird's skeleton was discovered in 1983 near Charleston, but its first formal description was released July 7 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers have discovered evidence of water — enough to fill oceans — embedded in minerals deep beneath the surface of the United States that could alter the current understanding of Earth's composition and how it was formed. Were this water in liquid form, which it is not, the discovery could be considered the planet's largest underground water reservoir, researchers said. The team of researchers, led by geophysicist Steve Jacobsen and seismologist Brandon Schmandt, has found pockets of magma about 400 miles beneath Earth's surface — clear signs of the presence of water, though not in its familiar liquid form. Here is hydrous ringwoodite synthesized from olivine in Jacobson’s laboratory.
The duck-billed dinosaur known as Edmontosaurus regalis was supposed to be a plain Jane of the Cretaceous. Now scientists have discovered that it actually had a spectacular adornment unique in the dinosaur world. A beautifully preserved new fossil shows Edmontosaurus boasted a party hat of jiggly flesh atop its head. Researchers theorize that like a rooster's coxcomb, the crest was brightly colored and served as a signal to others of its kind. Never before have scientists found such a non-bony crest on a dinosaur.
Tamu Massif, a monster volcano roughly the size of Arizona, ranks among the largest such structures in our solar system, 'Nature' reports by way of a Nature Geoscience study. But Tamu Massif differs from typical seamounts in that it has a nearly indiscernible slope—around 1 degree near the summit (which sits 6,500 feet below the surface), and much less near the base, National Geographic reports. And lead author William Sager says other oceanic plateaus could also be volcanoes: "There may be bigger ones out there."
An artist's impression of stone monoliths found buriedA massive black hole whose mass is 12 billion timesExoplanet Kepler 421-b orbits its star every 704 days, the longest-known year for an exoplanet, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It was discovered at the "frost line" — the crucial distance that divides rocky planets from gaseous planets about 1,000 light-years from Earth.A sea creature previously thought to be a sea anemone belongs to an order of it's own, researchers found. The Relicanthus daphneae lives near deep sea thermal vents in the Pacific and had been considered a giant sea anemone because of it's boneless, immobile carnivorous state. But while the anemone lost it skeleton over millions of years of evolution, R. daphneae never had them. "Putting these animals in the same group would be like classifying worms and snakes together because neither have legs," says researcher Estefanía Rodríguez. (Picture: A diver looks at a sea anemone off Saba island in the Caribbean in 2012.)Potentially the world's oldest-known wine cellar was discovered in what is now present-day Israel. Anthropologist Eric Cline, who helped unearth the site, says the cellar was near a hall where banquets took place in the 75-acre Tel Kabri site in Israel. The ruins date back to about 1700 B.C. Overall, 40 jars, the equivalent of 3,000 bottles of wine, were found packed in a 15-by-25 foot storage room, Cline said.The Cold Spot area resides in the constellation Eridanus

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