The world’s oldest known burial site turned out not to be built by us Homo sapiens. Deep in an ancient cave in South Africa, paleontologists have discovered a site that holds extraordinary significance. Buried here are a group of ancient relatives with small brains but extraordinary wisdom – Homo naledi.
A research team led by the famous paleoanthropologist Lou Berg announced that they had discovered the remains of these ancient humans in a 30-meter-deep cave at the Cradle of Humankind, a world cultural heritage site near Johannesburg. The discovery upends current understanding of human evolution, which often suggests that larger brains are needed to perform complex “meaningful” activities, such as burying the dead.
A brain the size of an orange can create art
Lew Berg, a paleontologist in the Morning Star cave system in South Africa, discovered the remains of Homo naledi here. (Photo/Luca Sola)
Imagine that a group of ancient, small-minded distant relatives are silently performing a mysterious ritual – burial in a dark cave in South Africa. The discovery of Homo naledi makes our imagination possible. Not only did these ancient humans have heads the size of oranges and were only 1.5 meters tall, but their existence challenges our traditional view of a linear path to human evolution.
The remains unearthed by scientists in the Morning Star Cave system in South Africa are at least 100,000 years older than the oldest Homo sapiens burials previously thought to be. This gives us a new understanding of how early humans viewed death and commemorated the dead.
These distant relatives who look different from us can not only walk and use tools, but also climb trees. The bending of their hands and feet seems to be for better grasping and movement. And their “artistic works” – the carvings and geometric carvings on the cave pillars – may give you new ideas about humankind’s unique creativity and intelligence.
While more evidence and peer review are needed to confirm this, the findings have certainly shaken up our traditional understanding of how humans relate to death, art and symbolic behavior. We used to think that only Homo sapiens could bury the dead and create art, but these behaviors of Homo naledi prove that such abilities may have a much earlier history in the human family tree, and are not so “unique.”
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Image source: (Luca Sola/AFP)Intel
參考出處:The Oldest Known Burial Site in The World Wasn’t Made by Our Species.Science Alert
Further reading:
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