I was going to write about Pluto, but then I got my National Geographic, and the cover story was Homo naledi, so I decided to write about Homo naledi instead.
Homo naledi was discovered earlier this year, in Rising Star cave, which is near Johannesburg, South Africa. Two recreational cavers entered Rising Star cave on September 13, 2013. They were just hoping to find a less trodden passage, and they discovered a new cave. In that cave they found the bones of Homo naledi.
They do not know the exact age of Homo naledi, but they estimate around two or two and a half million years.
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| The hand of Homo naledi compared to a human hand |
This an exciting discovery because it changes the way we think about our evolutionary family tree.
Wikipedia: Homo naledi
This face changes the human story. But how?
See you next week!
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| A possible hominin timeline. |
I'm amazed so many people - both the homo naledi and the researchers - crawled through an 8" wide crevasse at all. It give me the willies just thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteI'd read about the discovery, but this is the first time i've seen the graphic showing how they fit into our evolutionary family tree. Thanks for that!
I'm enjoying your blog. Keep up the good work!