MOSCOW, June 12, Tatyana Pichugina. The «star» people Homo naledi, who lived in South Africa at the same time as our ancestors, buried the dead and, according to archaeologists, were distinguished by complex cultural behavior. This calls into question not only the current picture of human evolution, but also ideas about the development of the brain.
Discovery of Homo naledi
In 2015, an international group of anthropologists led by Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) announced a sensational discovery: in the Rising Star cave system near Johannesburg, scientists discovered a new kind of human. It was given the name naledi, which means «star» in the local language.
About 1,500 bones and teeth were brought to light, concentrated in a small area on a branch of the Dinaledi 30 meters underground. According to many signs, experts realized that the remains belong to a previously unknown species from the genus Homo, combining archaic and modern features.
Undoubtedly, they were people, only short — a little over 140 cm. They walked on two legs. Long-armed, with curved hooked fingers, the ribs and shoulders are similar to those of Australopithecus. However, judging by the structure of their arms and hands, they could make precise movements, and their small teeth resembled those of a human.
The cranium contained 465-550 cubic centimeters of the brain — three times less than ours. This baffled scientists: they hoped to find a larger brain in a bipedal species with modern features.
Two years later, the age of the finds was determined. As it turned out, they are much younger than one might expect: 335-236 thousand years. Then only the ancestors of Homo sapiens, much more developed, lived in Africa. Neanderthals and Denisovans, who had broken away earlier, had already migrated to Eurasia by that time.
In an effort to solve the mystery of Homo naledi, scientists have been investigating the finds and excavating at Rising Star for several years. In total, the remains of 27 people from one population were found. Digging out the bottom of a remote chamber of the Dinaledi system, where you can get only by crawling, we stumbled upon two oval depressions, where bones appeared at a depth of several centimeters. As they cleared, they realized that these were burials. And if so, then they are the most ancient in Africa already known. It used to be believed that only Homo sapiens buried the dead — their 78,000-year-old burials were found in Kenya. » data-crop-ratio=»0.47578125″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»285″ data-source-sid=»cc_by-sa_40″ class=»lazyload» width=»1920″ height =»914″ decoding=»async» />
Intentionally buried
Berger's group released three papers on the discovery on the biological preprint site Biorxiv.org. The first dedicatedevidence of deliberate burial of the dead Homo naledi. Several facts led scientists to this idea: the spatial distribution of the depressions, the soil that filled them, which differs from the enclosing clayey sediments, and the violation of strata (stratigraphy). Fragments of 83 bones and teeth were found in the first recess, and parts of another body were found directly above. There was no sign that the bones had been brought in by water or dragged by predators. The dead have obviously been brought here. The second recess, located 20 centimeters from the first, has not yet been fully excavated.
Scientists stumbled upon another burial in 2017 in the Hill lobby, closer to the vertical well leading to the system. In order not to damage the finds, they were raised, without digging, by three monoliths. And then enlightened by computed tomography. As it turned out, the blocks contain 51 tooth fragments and 90 bone fragments, with 30 belonging to one person. There was a stone object at the hand. The location of the fragments indicated that the body was lowered into a prepared depression.
Scientists believe that the caves were used for burials more than once, since there are insets of later pits. It is possible that the icings buried parts of the bodies in different places. All of this speaks to the complex cultural behavior that accompanies death.
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Triptych of ancient artists
In the second articleThe same authors told about another sensation — rock paintings on the walls of the cave. They were found by Lee Berger when he went down to Dinaledi to see the excavations for himself. In order to crawl through narrow tunnels and skinners, he lost 25 kilograms. On the way back, almost getting stuck, the anthropologist saw marks on the dolomite wall in the tunnel connecting Dinaledi's chamber with the Hill vestibule, marked with something hard. Lines from five to 15 centimeters long formed geometric shapes — squares, triangles, crosses, x's. In total, scientists discovered three places with rock carvings.
To say for sure that they were made of ice, there is not enough data — including the age of the drawings. It is extremely difficult to date rock carvings, especially engraved ones. However, the authors of the work believe that no one, except for the «star» people, could draw figures on the walls — there is no information about the presence of other types of people in the caves. However, naledi, judging by the large number of finds, could have been visiting these dungeons for generations. =»1.497076023391813″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»898″ data-source-sid=»» class=»m-vertical lazyload» lazy=»1″ />
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The extensive material became evidence of the hypothesis expressed by the researchers almost immediately after the discovery of a new species: in their opinion, the ice floes deliberately buried the dead. And this requires joint actions and, accordingly, a fairly high level of development.
Naledi carried the deceased 75 meters in very difficult conditions, at the risk of life, the authors write in the third preprint. Such a path in deep narrow caves is a severe physical and psychological test that requires special relationships in the group, developed empathy, involves coordination between group members, as well as the use of fire for lighting (traces of it have also been found).
All this does not fit with the small brain of Homo naledi. Evidence suggests that over the past two million years, in humans, brain enlargement has been accompanied by behavioral sophistication. Previously, it was believed that only people with big brains were capable of painting on stones, performing funeral rituals and using fire. Recent discoveries disprove this. «H. naledi exhibits this behavior while having a brain size of less than 600 milliliters,» the authors write. This means that a large brain is not the main sign of a reasonable existence. » data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»325″ data-source-sid=»cc_by_40″ class=»lazyload» width=»1920″ height=»1041″ decoding=»async» />
As evidence, scientists cite H. floresiensis, «hobbits,» a species found on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Their brains are even smaller, which did not prevent them from leaving traces of material culture behind them. True, Flores people lived relatively recently — only 13 thousand years ago. It is believed that their dwarfism is a consequence of island isolation.
The key driver of human development may not be so much the size of the brain as the nervous organization, the authors of the discovery believe.
Not surprisingly, their hypotheses are criticized. Some believe that Berger jumped to conclusions. Maria Martinon-Torres, director of the Spanish National Research Center for Human Evolution, called the Berger group's findings «speculation» and «guess». Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at Griffith University (Australia), sees no hard evidence for the use of fire, especially since the work on dating the discovered coal has not yet been published. Paul Pettit from the University of Durham (UK) also doubted the interpretation of the finds — in his opinion, there are not enough facts to consider the actions of the ice as intentional.
The results announced by Berger and his colleagues are preliminary and require further research. The group is working to extract DNA from the bones — it is possible that the deceased ancient people were related. All three preprints are currently under review by the eLife e-journal. «0.666666666666667» data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»400″ data-source-sid=»rian_photo» class=»lazyload» width=»1920″ height=»1280″ decoding=»async» />