How, when and where did modern humans evolve? Nobody has all the answers, but studying rock and dirt can put the debate on firmer footing.
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Articles on Homo naledi
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Homo naledi had a brain less than half the size of our own. Yet the new research claims it had cognitive abilities far beyond what we might expect.
Ancient DNA helps reveal the tangled branches of the human family tree. Not only did our ancestors live alongside other human species, they mated with them, too.
The fossil material was recovered from the surface of a tight, narrow passage that can only be accessed with difficulty by one person at a time.
You can’t own a human, so why can you own their remains? We need to stop treating human fossils as objects.
This is a hugely important find. It means that one of our earlier ancestors possibly originated in southern Africa.
300,000 years ago, there were lots of different species of human. Now it’s only us – and we’re probably the reason why.
Diet and disease leave characteristic marks on our teeth which can reman for millions of years.
Homo naledi seems to have enjoyed small, hard foods like nuts.
Africa’s overall contribution to research might be small, but smart people are undertaking smart and important work on and about the continent.
Evidence of Homo naledi’s age suggests we need to rethink our understanding of human history and evolution.
New evidence suggests that Homo naledi didn’t deliberately deposit their dead in a hidden chamber.
The big question being asked is: where does Homo naledi fit in the evolutionary tree? Assessing the similarity or dissimilarity between fossil skulls has provided a possible clue to the answer.
The discovery of Homo naledi has been a social media sensation, recording an extraordinary number of views – more than 170,000 – for a scientific paper.
Despite claims about its age, puzzling combinations of features from Homo naledi gives it an uncanny resemblance to human beings.
Top contributors
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Professor in Geochronology and Geochemistry, Southern Cross University
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Paleoanthropologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Honorary Research Associate, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
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Postdoctoral researcher, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
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Professor of Palaeoanthropology, La Trobe University
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CENIEH Director, Atapuerca Research Team and author of "Homo imperfectus" (Ed. Destino), Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
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Senior Research Scientist, National Museums of Kenya
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Professor at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
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Researcher, Physical and Biological Anthropology, Simon Fraser University
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Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of Bath
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Researcher in Palaeoanthropology, University of Johannesburg
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Director, Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University
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Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Johannesburg
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Geoarchaeologist and Postgraduate Research Scholar, Flinders University
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Lecturer in Museum and Curatorial Studies, University of Adelaide
