Homo naledi and intentional burial

Homo naledi was one of the earliest extinct hominids having small-brains who lived in South Africa some 335,000 to 236,000 years ago. The first discoveries of this fossil were made from Rising Star Cave system in South Africa by Lee Berger and his team in 2013. Interestingly no tools or fossils of other animals were discovered from the sites of their habitat.

The anatomical features of Homo naledi are a mixture of Australopithecines and Homo-like and therefore its place in the evolutionary tree is still unresolved. While the structure of its hands is suitable for tree climbing but that of its feet is adapted for a terrestrial lifestyle. Homo naledi lived in the same habitat of that of early human ancestors but there are no clues of the mixture of these creatures.

Later discoveries of the caves indicated that Homo naledi intentionally buried their dead in the caves indicating their cultural advancement in spite of their small brains. This is a very startling discovery because till now the burial tradition has been attributed to the later human ancestors such as Neanderthals who had much developed brains. In contrast to these, Homo naledi brains were roughly one-third the size of modern humans. The burial caves also had engravings on their walls which were in the form of lines or patterns of lines making squares and triangles. Many objections have come forward about the intentional burials of Homo naledi and one among them is the absence of dating of the cave markings. Other anthropologists point towards trampling of these small creatures by bigger hominids resulting in the situation of cave burials and the absence of concrete cultural artifacts. Further research will disentangle the dilemma of intentional burial of Homo naledi.