Video: Homo Naledi, New Species Of Human Relative Found

By R. Siva Kumar - 10 Sep '15 12:31PM

South African scientists say they have found a "new species of human relative" after they stumbled upon some fossils in a cave, according to yahoo.

Professor Lee Berger, of South Africa's Wits University, the team lead of the National Geographic-funded project, said: "What we have is a tall hominid, between 1.45 and 1.5 metres tall, was very skinny, had powerful joint muscles and had a brain about the size of my fist."

It may not be a direct ancestor of modern humans, but might be an early member of our evolutionary group, which includes humans as well as our closest extinct relatives. Called Homo Naledi, the species shows that it is "having a surprising mix of human and primitive characteristics".

The fossil of Homo Naledi was found in a chamber about 90 metres from the entrance of the cave, in the Cradle of Humankind, and could be accessed only through a narrow slit that "a special team of very slender people was used to retrieve them".

This is the largest fossil hominin discovery in the African continent that will revolutionise all the theories of evolution, for the species might have shown some characteristics that can only be viewed in human beings as well Neanderthals.

For example, one habit it shares with humans is placing the bodies of its dead in remote caves. Scientists are thrilled, for it indicates that there might be thousands more waiting to be discovered in the cave.

About 1,550 fossils have originated from at least 15 "individuals" whose age is not identifiable. Hence the value of the discovery is not traceable.

Eric Delson, of Lehman College in New York, estimated that the Homo Naledi belongs to a group of early Homo beings from almost two million years ago. However, other experts, such as Tim White, from University of California, Berkeley, said they actually belong to the "primitive Homo Erectus, a species named in the 1800s".

Bernard Wood, of George Washington University, described the situation as being "like a Sherlock Holmes mystery".