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Mail & Guardian

Rising Star Cave

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The discovery of a new species of human relative, Homo Naledia was unveiled at The Cradle of Human Kind at Maropeng in Johannesburg, South Africa. Naledi was discovered in a hard to reach chamber in the Rising Star Cave which has led scientists to believe that the Hominids had a understanding of the finality of death. Naledi stood about 1,5m high, had a unique mix of primitive and modern features with a tiny brain about the size of an orange, a slender body and unusually curved fingers. (Photo by Denzil Maregele/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
COLUMNS

The no-prisoner Naledi wars

DREW FORREST looks at the fierce academic controversies ignited by South Africa’s most recent hominin find

  • Drew Forrest
8 min read
Then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Professor Lee Berger hold a replica of the skull of a Homo naledi during the unveiling of the discovery. (File photo)
ANCIENT BURIAL PRACTICES

The God Edition | Searching among the bones for Homo naledi’s soul

Drew Forrest uses one of South Africa’s most important hominid discoveries to debate the paradoxes and contradictions inherent in the religious doctrine of ‘ensoulment’

  • Drew Forrest
6 min read