A team of paleontologists has found tombs dating back to 200,000 BC. Hidden 30 meters deep in the Sterkfontein Caves, this tomb is located in Johannesburg, South Africa, and holds the remains of Homo nalediClose Homo sapiens who lived in the stone age.
according to Study published on the website bioRxivAnd last week, a new discovery may redefine the current understanding of human evolution. That’s because Homo naledi Habits that until then had not been discovered except in Neanderthals that it Homo sapiens. For example: the position in which the bones were, suggests that the awakening took place, in addition to the collective burial of the family.
About the ancient relative of man
a Homo naledi They may have been the first group of humans to use symbols, despite having a brain the size of an orange. Fossil samples also revealed similarities with modern humans, such as a bone structure capable of bearing 100 kilograms, and reaching a height of 1.50 meters.
“We’ve observed human cultural behavior in a species with a brain one-third the size of ours,” said paleontologist John Hawkes of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “This contradicts the idea that it was brain size that made us human.”
According to the researchers, the Homo naledi He lived in a cave system known as the Rising Star, near present-day Johannesburg. At the site, experts found several burial chambers, excavations, and some evidence of the use of fire, such as hearths and charred bones.
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