Mass grave of new human relative discovered in South Africa, claim scientists

Scientists in South Africa working at Moropeng, the site located just outside of Johannesburg and known as the "Cradle of Humankind," have discovered a mass underground grave containing the remains of hundreds of individuals from what they say is an entirely new species of the human family.

Mass grave of new human relative discovered in South Africa, claim scientists

Seems we may be getting closer to finding that link every Creationist keeps asking for. I find this fascinating. So this is a mass grave of a new species of human....

The species' brains were a third of the size of today’s humans but they stood like us, and had similar feet and hands, although their fingers were elegantly curved. This new species, Berger said, should be placed as an early humanoid just before the time of homo sapiens. The species could date back as far as 2.8 million years, according to experts.

Stood like us, similar feet and hands and could date back 2.8 million years! This could be the find of a lifetime really. I am very interested in the DNA research on these early humans.

The discovery of these fossils, believed by scientists to possibly be the largest group of individuals in fossil form ever found in one place anywhere in the world, was made in 2013. When the team of ‘astronauts’ was put together, only small - and thin - scientists were encouraged to apply. Archaeologists had to squeeze through a 10- inch wide gap between underground rocks - dubbed “Superman’s Crawl,” and go through a succession of caves, before finally making a vertical 10-yard drop to get into the now-named Dinaledi Chamber. At the entrance, they found 300 fossils, and in the chamber itself some 1,200 fossilized bones. After two years of keeping the discovery secret, the search is ongoing.

So they were all found in a hard to reach spot then the researcher says this:

“This is a new species of human that deliberately disposed of bodies in this chamber,” Berger said, adding that the bodies appear to have been dropped from above down a chute formed by rocks which forms the entrance to the chamber. Up until now, Berger adds, it was thought that homo sapiens were the first beings to choose to dispose of their dead.

"Now, with Homo Naledi, we have evidence of the world’s first burial site," he said.

Evidence of the worlds FIRST burial site, at least that has been discovered so far.

This seems to me to be a discovery of epic proportions in regards to the evolutionary theories.

Can't wait for more to be told!

Don't you know? Evil athiest scientists put this stuff there to fool the unGodly masses. Sheesh.

J/k. Looking forward to more info!

originally posted by: Jefferton
Don't you know? Evil athiest scientists put this stuff there to fool the unGodly masses. Sheesh.

J/k. Looking forward to more info!

Ha...I am sure Ken Ham will be all over this one sometime soon.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

This is very exciting.
One thing that intrigued me was the photo of the bones and artifacts from the grave.
Some of the objects looked like jewelry (necklaces).

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: Vasa Croe

This is very exciting.
One thing that intrigued me was the photo of the bones and artifacts from the grave.
Some of the objects looked like jewelry (necklaces).

I believe this is the photo you are talking about:



And I think those small rings of objects may be teeth though.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Probably right.
But imagine the ramifications if they made decorative objects almost 3 million years ago.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Probably right.
But imagine the ramifications if they made decorative objects almost 3 million years ago.

Hell...imagine if they found primitive tools as well....there are all kinds of possibilities with this one. I can't wait for more to come out about this finding. From the story, it was discovered a couple years ago, so they have had a good bit of time to really get knee deep in it.

YA know just because their brains were smaller dont mean they were stupider. Maybe this will be the link to our space brothers who we eventually came from.

The curved finger part is very interesting. This would suggest hands designed for climbing in trees. This could actually be a missing link.

originally posted by: yuppa
YA know just because their brains were smaller dont mean they were stupider. Maybe this will be the link to our space brothers who we eventually came from.

But what about the giants that used to roam the earth? Maybe we started small, grew too big for our own good, and are now back on our path to being small again.....

originally posted by: Vasa Croe

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: Vasa Croe

This is very exciting.
One thing that intrigued me was the photo of the bones and artifacts from the grave.
Some of the objects looked like jewelry (necklaces).

I believe this is the photo you are talking about:

And I think those small rings of objects may be teeth though.

Yeah pretty sure those are teeth.

originally posted by: Oannes
The curved finger part is very interesting. This would suggest hands designed for climbing in trees. This could actually be a missing link.

Could be. I would also ponder that this being a true "burial" site would suggest a form of spirituality existed which would clearly be a higher level of thinking than we give most ancestors credit for.

Fascinating form of burial: dropping bodies down a chute into the cavern.
I wonder if this was done strictly to keep predators away...or if it represented something ceremonial or ritualistic.

I assume there were no teeth or cut marks on bones or signs of cannibalism, as this would've been noticed almost immediately and mentioned.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
Fascinating form of burial: dropping bodies down a chute into the cavern.
I wonder if this was done strictly to keep predators away...or if it represented something ceremonial or ritualistic.

Being that these guys were smaller than us, I wonder if they were at the top of the food chain back then. Would be cool if they found evidence on multiple skeletons of predatory kills or something of that sort.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Well, this would obviously have been a chamber for burial, as it doesn't mention other animal bones present...indicating it was a predator's lair or a refuse dump.

As far as being top of the food chain? Anatomical signs of being arboreal, would tend to indicate they were more often than not, prey.

Tools or weapons would've been the only indication that they were not just scavengers or gatherers.
As those haven't been found, we have to assume they were not hunting in teams or with some manner of strategy.
The seem to be similar to Australopithecus in many ways.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
Tools or weapons would've been the only indication that they were not just scavengers or gatherers.
As those haven't been found, we have to assume they were not hunting in teams or with some manner of strategy.
The seem to be similar to Australopithecus in many ways.

Would tools or weapons be found in a burial site though? It would be interesting to find out if they did find any indication of one or more of the bones having marks from some sort of weapon being used on them. I think the chances of anyone finding the actual "living" area where they stayed is likely long gone or buried really deep.

It's very possible that they were tree-dwelling, nomads...although, having a central depository for burial might mean they were territorial.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Apparently, they could have used tools...although maybe not including them in burial, might mean burial was not ceremonial or ritualistic.

THE GIST
- The earliest known evidence for stone tool use and meat eating among early humans is found.

- The evidence -- butchered, fossilized bones -- dates to roughly 3.4 million years ago.

- It's believed the ancestor Australopithecus afarensis (to which "Lucy" belongs) used the tools.

Fossilized bones scarred by hack marks reveal that our human ancestors were using stone tools and eating meat from large mammals nearly a million years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study that pushes back both of these human activities to roughly 3.4 million years ago.

The first known human ancestor tool wielder and meat lover was Australopithecus afarensis, according to the study, published in the latest issue of Nature. This species, whose most famous representative is the skeleton "Lucy," was slender, toothy and small-brained.

"By pushing the date for tool use and meat eating in our lineage back by around 1 million years, our finds show that tool use and meat eating was not unique to (the genus) Homo, a widely accepted notion in our field," co-author Zeresenay Alemseged told Discovery News.

news.discovery.com...