Homo naledi is an extinct species of human discovered in Rising Star Cave in South Africa in 2013 CE in what has become the biggest single-species hominin find in Africa to this day, which is moreover set to cause a bit of an avalanche within the field of palaeoanthropology because the skeletons' strange mix of features and young date of 236,000 and 335,000 years old serve to highlight hominin variety. More than 1500 fossils that once belonged to the living bodies of at least 15 individuals were painstakingly removed from a very inaccessible part of the cave. In a breath of fresh air, the project, led by palaeontologist Lee Berger, not only presented its results in open access fashion but even allowed the world to watch over their shoulders as social media and a live blog by National Geographic kept track of the excavation process.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 2600000 BCE - c. 12000 BCEThe Pleistocene epoch, ranging from c. 2,6 million years ago until c. 12,000 years ago. It is characterised by repeated cycles of glacials and interglacials.
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c. 2600000 BCE - c. 12000 BCEThe Palaeolithic (or Old Stone Age) period, ranging from c. 2,6 million years ago until c. 12,000 years ago.
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c. 335000 BCE - c. 236000 BCEThe Homo naledi specimens from Rising Star Cave are between c. 335,000 and c. 236,000 years old.
