A NEW SPECIES IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

A new species, Homo Naledi, found in a cave in South Africa may be the transition from Australopithecus (upright walking ape) to the genus Homo (man.) 

Even more interesting is the manner in which the sight was explored.  

Two cavers found bones in an unexplored, almost inaccessible chamber of a cave near Johannesburg, South Africa.   
 

After traversing from a major chamber to a second chamber through a crawl space so small that it could only be entered with one arm in front of you and one at your side (called the Superman Crawl) the cavers entered what was believed to be the final chamber. 

One of the cavers happened to find a hidden chimney near the ceiling of the cave, barely large enough for his body to fit into.   The chimney dropped forty feet to a small chamber full of what appeared to be human bones.

The access to the chamber was so small that the paleoanthropologist and his usual team could not enter the sight. 

In order for the paleoanthropologist to document the find he advertised on Facebook for extremely small scientist, unafraid to work in tight spaces.   Of the people that responded he picked six small women, most doctoral candidates.

The bravery of these women and their determination to access and catalog the sight is worth the time to watch.    

This Nova production runs just under two hours, but is fascinating.      The video begins with a first dig near Johannesburg that introduces an earlier find, but after about one hour it focuses on the Naledi cave find.

Human evolution has always fascinated me, so I am including the Youtube video above, and also the link below. 

Dawn of Humanity - Nova 

the Ol’Buzzard