No bones of contention concerning Homo Naledi

A unique new event for the Uplands Festival and Lowveld was held last month. Newly graduated Dr Ashley Kruger, from the Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute Centre of Excellence (palaeontology), gave a very interesting 45-minute talk on the most recent results and thoughts on Homo naledi, found in the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system at the Cradle of Humankind.

Even more startling are the new finds of Neo; three individuals of H. naledi from the neighbouring Lesedi Chamber.

One of these now represents the most complete single individual of a hominin ancestor ever found, putting a previous find, Lucy, Australopithecus sediba, into second place.

Although Neo has a unique combination of both human features (a small brain like an early human and hands and feet like a modern human) and an ape-like pelvis and shoulders, he has been dated to a relatively young age of between 236 000 and 335 000 years ago.

Even more startling is the suggestion that evidence points to H. naledi actively burying its dead, behaviour hitherto only believed to be found in modern man.

The talk was followed by a panel discussion by Prof Dan Parker, Dr Gus Mills, Jako Carstens, Chris Engelbrecht and Dr Llew Taylor, with the latter acting as facilitator.

The discussion was centred around how the H. naledi finds influence thought on whether modern man originated in Africa or whether he originated regionally, across the globe in different places.

The discussion lasted 90 minutes as the panel and audience of over 70 people, including Uplands primary and college (life sciences) pupils, parents and Wessa members enthusiastically debated the two alternatives, with Kruger acting as both expert and “devil’s advocate”.

As expected, the Out of Africa hypothesis won, especially given the evidence for these new hominin finds in the Cradle of Humankind.

The event ended with Kruger proudly showing off casts of the H. naledi skulls and jaws, and especially the hand and foot.