Extraordinary claims about small-brained human relative Homo naledi challenge prevailing view of cognitive evolution
In the millions of years over which humans have been evolving, brain size has tripled, and behavior has become exponentially more elaborate. Early, small-brained hominins made only simple stone tools. Later, brainier ancestors invented more sophisticated implements and developed more advanced subsistence strategies.
Controversy has roiled around H. naledi from the outset. The remains were found in parts of the cave system that are incredibly challenging to access today and that, as far as the team knows, were just as difficult to reach back when H. naledi visited. Hardly any bones of medium or large animals are known from the site, as might be expected if creatures, including H. naledi, unwittingly fell into the cave.
Berger also made another, arguably more astonishing discovery that day in Rising Star: designs carved in the cave walls. The engravings consist of isolated lines and geometric motifs, including crosses, squares, triangles, X’s, hash marks and scalariform, or ladderlike, shapes. The markings were deeply incised into dolomite rock in locations close to the burials in the Dinaledi Chamber and Hill Antechamber. Dolomite is a particularly hard rock that measures around 4.
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