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57

January/February 2018^ DISCOVER^61

WITS UNIVERSITY/JOHN HAWKS

Our Neighbor, Homo naledi

❯

THE 2013 DISCOVERY OF HOMO NALEDI in South Africa’s Rising

Star cave system added a new member to our family tree, but

researchers initially were unable to date the small-brained hominin.

In papers published in the journal eLife in May, anthropologist Lee

Berger and his team finally placed the remains between 236,000 and

335,000 years old, younger than many expected based on the hominin’s

primitive features. The relatively recent date suggests H. naledi might have

overlapped with archaic Homo sapiens in the region.

Berger’s team also announced more H. naledi specimens — including

“Neo” (below), the most complete individual found so far — from an

entirely new chamber in the cave system. The story of H. naledi is far from

over. — NATHANIEL SCHARPING