Early human was small but smart

• Autores: Colin Barras
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3123, 2017, pág. 6
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • A team led by Lee Berger at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg had found thousands of ancient human fossils--the largest cache of its kind ever found in Africa. The first scientific reports were published in 2015. The bones belonged to a never-before-seen early human, which was named Homo naledi. It had a peculiar mix of anatomical features, which is part of what makes it hard to tell when the species lived. Berger is expected to publish its age next month, but he told media this week that the best guess is between 200,000 and 300,000 years old, around the time modern humans were also emerging in Africa. But what really set tongues wagging was the suggestion by Berger's team that H. naledi had deliberately disposed of its dead in this deep, dark cave full of remains. Such an endeavor probably required emotional sophistication, not to mention teamwork, but H. naledi's skull was less than half the size of the modern humans.