Overberg Geoscientists Group
335,000 yrs ago
Early Pre-humans
Around 330,000 years ago, small stature pre-humans were living in the many caves found in the area now known as the Cradle of Humankind. They were not true anatomically modern humans but were closely related. They may have had some very early cultural practices and rituals.
He assembled an excavation team including the 2 cavers and they became known as ‘The Underground Astronauts’. The members of the team had to be chosen very carefully both for knowledge of how to carry out a detailed excavation, but also to be able to access the site through the cave and its narrow difficult passages
In early 2013, 2 local cavers were exploring the Rising Star Cave near the Cradle of Humankind. They came across some bones in a chamber with very difficult access. It lies about 80 m from the main entrance, at the bottom of a 12 m vertical drop, and the 10 m long main passage is only 25–50 cm at its narrowest. They took some pictures and eventually these got to Lee Berger a paleoanthropologist at Wits University.
In total, more than 1,550 pieces of bone belonging to at least fifteen individuals (9 immature and 6 adults) have been recovered. The fossils represent 737 anatomical elements – including the parts of the skull, jaw, ribs, teeth, limbs, and inner ear bones – from old, adult, young, and infantile individuals. There are also some articulated or near-articulated elements, including the skull with the jaw bone, and nearly complete hands and feet. With the number of individuals of both sexes across several age demographics, it is the richest assemblage of associated fossil hominins discovered in Africa. The excavation site has the most comprehensive representation of skeletal elements across the lifespan, and from multiple individuals, in the hominin fossil record.
It has been proposed that the bodies or skeletons were deliberately brought into the site. It was concluded that the bodies had to have been deliberately carried and placed into the chamber by people because they appear to have been intact when they were first deposited in the chamber. There is no evidence of trauma from being dropped into the chamber nor of predation, and there is exceptional preservation. The chamber is inaccessible to large predators, appears to be an isolated system, and has never been flooded. That is, natural forces were not at play.
There is no hidden shaft by which people could have accidentally fallen in through, and there is no evidence of some catastrophe which killed all the individuals inside the chamber. It is also possible that the bodies were dropped down a chute and fell slowly due to irregularity and narrowness of the path down, or a soft mud cushion to land on. In both scenarios, the morticians would have required artificial light to navigate the cave. The site was used repeatedly for burials as the bodies were not all deposited at the same time. This proposal has been argued against and it has been proposed that it was possibly another contemporaneous early Homo species could have got rid of bodies rather than a funerary rite by Homo naledi.
More recently, however, further evidence has been found that supports the deliberate ‘burial’. Rocks have been found that appear to have deliberate scratches. This applies to small hand sized rocks and also to sidewalls.
It is not known if theses marks were made at the same time, and the bodies were not all placed at the same time.
Secondly, very near to the main chamber, in an even more inaccessible side tunnel, a small human skull was found. It is of a child about 4 years old. No other bones were found in this vicinity, and it is proposed that it was placed here deliberately.
Finally, evidence has very recently been found that show that hearths were buit and used, and charcoal fragments have been discovered. These may possibly be evidence that ‘torches’ were used to allow the people to find their way in, and they may have stayed underground. Hearth sites from just before the main chamber.
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Further Reading:
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Berger, L.R.; et al. (2015). "Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa". eLife. 4.
Dirks, P.H.G.M.; Roberts, E.M.; Hilbert-Wolf, H.; Kramers, J.D.; Hawks, J.; et al. (2017). "The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa". eLife. 6
Hawks, J.D.; Elliott, M.; Schmid, P.; Churchill, S.E.; de Ruiter, D.J.; Roberts, E.M. (2017). "New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa". eLife. 6
Johnson, Mark (5 December 2022). "Ancient human relative used fire, surprising discoveries suggest - Charcoal and burned bones found in a South African cave offer intriguing — if controversial — clues about Homo naledi". The Washington Post.
Bolter, D. R.; Elliot, M. C.; Hawk, J. D.; Berger, L. R. (2020). "Immature remains and the first partial skeleton of a juvenile Homo naledi, a late Middle Pleistocene hominin from South Africa". PLOS ONE. 15 (4): e0230440. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1530440B
Val, A. (2016). "Deliberate body disposal by hominins in the Dinaledi Chamber, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa?". Journal of Human Evolution. 96: 145–148.
Brophy, Juliet; Elliot, Marina; De Ruiter, Darryl; Bolter, Debra; Churchill, Stevens; Walker, Christopher; Hawks, John; Berger, Lee (2021). "Immature Hominin Craniodental Remains From a New Locality in the Rising Star Cave System, South Africa". PaleoAnthropology. 2021 (1)