Getting Inside The Head Of Homo Naledi

Curvature map of a Homo naledi cranial endocast. (Credit PNAS) Maybe size doesn't matter that much after all. Ever since its discovery in 2013, Homo naledi — the newest addition to our family tree — has been a source of speculation and surprise. The South African hominin's latest mind-bending revelation: Its brain, though notably small, had several structural details similar to those of bigger-brained members of the genus Homo, including us. The new research hints that these structures developed early in the story of Homo, and may have permitted more advanced cognitive functions despite H. naledi's overall smaller brain volume. Homo naledi has presented paleoanthropologists with many intriguing riddles thanks to its unique blend of anatomical traits from both the early and late hominin fossil record. But when Homo naledi's discovery went public in 2015, much of the attention focused on the disparity between its low brain volume and apparently ...