Paleontologists in South Africa said Monday they have found the oldest known burial site in the world, containing remains of a small-brained distant relative of humans previously thought incapable of complex behaviour.
Led by renowned palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger, researchers said they discovered several specimens of Homo naledi – a tree-climbing, Stone Age hominid – buried about 30 metres underground in a cave system within the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO world heritage site near Johannesburg.
The findings challenge the current understanding of human evolution, as it is normally held that the development of bigger brains allowed for the performing of complex, “meaning-making” activities such as burying the dead. Those found in South Africa by Berger, whose previous announcements have been controversial, and his fellow researchers, date back to at least 200,000 BC.
With curved fingers and toes, tool-wielding hands and feet made for walking, the species discovered by Berger had already upended the notion that our evolutionary path was a straight line.The oval-shaped interments at the centre of the new studies were also found there during excavations started in 2018.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
JUST-IN: South Korea Knock Flying Eagles Out Of U20 World CupTwo-time runners-up, Nigeria, dominated for large parts of the game but were eliminated from the FIFA U20 World Cup by a single goal on Sunday as Korea
Read more »
President Museveni and Africa’s political culture wars | TheCableIn the 37th year of his interminable rule, President Yoweri Museveni signed into law Uganda’s anti-homosexuality act passed by parliament earlier in the month. Among other things, the new law
Read more »
Gitex Africa, Nigeria to boost tech investmentNigerian tech companies got exposure for cross-border investment at GITEX Africa, a tech summit that held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Read more »
Firm brings music education to disadvantaged school children in AfricaThe African Music Library announces the debut of Foster, a ground-breaking music education initiative designed to give underpr
Read more »
President Museveni and Africa’s political culture wars, By Chidi Anselm OdinkaluIn the 37th year of his interminable rule, President Yoweri Museveni signed into law Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, passed by Parliament earlier in the month. Among other things, the new law prescribes life in prison for persons convicted of homosexuality, a crime that already exists in Uganda’s laws. It also creates a new crime of “aggravated […]
Read more »
Zenith Bank’s Onyeagwu Named Best Banking CEO In AfricaThe award, published in the Spring 2023 Issue of the International Banker Magazine, sees Dr Onyeagwu honoured alongside other individuals and banks from the
Read more »