Two articles – available here and here – published in the journal “PaleoAnthropology” report as many studies connected to Homo naledi, the species of hominins whose fossils were discovered in the cave called Rising Star about 50 km northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. One of the two articles reports the study of a partial skull with some teeth belonging to an individual who was still in the growth phase, possibly a child. The other article reports the results of the exploration of the subsystem of the cave called Dinaledi. These studies offer new insights into what Professor Lee Berger, who led the team that conducted the first studies on Homo naledi, called an enigmatic species.
The discovery of a large number of hominin fossils attributed to a new species aroused a lot of interest since the publication of the first studies in 2015. The anatomical features of these hominins are primitive, in some cases even more similar to those of australopithecines than to those of the Homo genus. For this reason, some scientists had speculated that it was a primitive Homo erectus. However, later dating indicated an age between 335,000 and 236,000 years, therefore in a period in which Homo sapiens already existed. That’s a true enigma that spurred further research which among other things led to the discovery of new fossils.
In an area of the Dinaledi subsystem designated as U.W. 110 6 teeth and 28 fragments of a skull have been discovered that seem to belong to an individual still in the growth phase. The individual was nicknamed Leti from the word letimela which, in the Setswana language, means the lost. U.W. 110 is an area of difficult access, like many others in the cave, the reason that led Lee Berger and his colleagues to believe that the Homo naledi found inside were intentionally buried. The image (Courtesy Wits University, all rights reserved) shows a reconstruction of Leti’s skull in Professor Berger’s hand.
According to estimates, this young individual lived about 250,000 years ago and was between 4 and 6 years old when she died. Dr. Juliet Brophy, the first author of the paper describing the examination, stated that this is the first partial skull of a Homo naledi child recovered so far and this starts providing information on all stages of the life of this extraordinary species. Researchers refer to this individual as a female, however, it wasn’t possible to determine her gender.
Children’s bones are generally too thin and brittle to fossilize and survive very long and yet the discovery of a partial skull with some baby teeth is also extraordinary. The 3D reconstruction of that skull indicates that her brain was close to that of an adult Homo naledi.
Exploring the Rising Star cave is difficult, as many areas are narrow. Homo naledi were smaller than Homo sapiens and probably their tree-climbing skills made easier for them to move in caves like this one. This means that there may still be fossils to be found and any discovery can offer important information about a still mysterious species.
