Homo naledi and the Chamber of Secrets

An underground cave reveals a collection of fossilsthat could bring a new human speciesinto the fold.

By Russ Juskalian
Feb 25, 2016 5:27 PMNov 19, 2019 9:45 PM
Homo naledi collection - UWMadison
Bones of at least 15 individuals from a South African cave represent the largest early hominin find ever discovered. (Credit: John Hawks/University of Wisconsin-Madison)

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Deep underground, beyond a 39-foot vertical shaft narrowing to 8 inches in some spots, tantalizing clues of humanity’s earliest origins are whispering up from the darkness. Here, in the Dinaledi Chamber of South Africa’s Rising Star cave system, researchers have found a spectacular assemblage of fossils they say belongs to a new human species: Homo naledi.

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