Homo naledi, the culture of another species

Humanism
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Speaking of the beauty of our macroscopic realm, this one came across, as if on cue. Breaking anthropological news, an excellent talk with Q/A given by Lee Berger, December 1st.
I’ve been following this story all along and it just keep on getting better. At times Burger comes across like a kid who’s seen the Christmas Presents and now has to keep his secret, on pain of death.

An update on the observations within the Rising Star Cave system. :exploding_head: With more to come as some papers wend their way through the scientific publication process in the next months, well 36 months - embargoed news.

Researchers have found remnants of small fireplaces and sooty wall and ceiling smudges in passages and chambers throughout South Africa’s Rising Star cave complex, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger announced in a December 1 lecture hosted by the Carnegie Institution of Science in Washington, D.C.

Carnegie Science • Premiered Dec 2, 2022

Understanding where we come from as a species has been one of the great goals of humankind, exploring the questions of where we come from and why we are here as a species. In this lecture, Professor Lee Berger will explore some of the greatest discoveries of the last two decades in the search for human origins, discoveries with which he has been instrumental and intimately involved.
These breakthroughs have led us to re-evaluate the story of human origins on the continent of Africa.

With lessons from what has been described as one of the most challenging sciences on Earth, Berger will explore why he believes we are in the midst of the greatest age of exploration.

He will also relate the importance of lessons he has learned during his search for understanding human origins, which he believes are applicable to all areas of scientific endeavor and to our daily lives.

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg - Homo naledi

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The adventure continues. During that Carnegie talk, Berger sounded almost giddy about information he was sitting on. It’s now July 2023 and the cat’s outta the bag. He paints a pretty fascinating picture and has the evident to back up his talk.

I just finished the Netflix documentary

UNKNOWN, Cave of Bones

Homo Naledi - Lee Berger
5 stars

… and found it awesome. Must see stuff. I don’t understand why it needs to put some into a panic, but people are pretty self-absorbed and thin skinned, and turf battles are what they are. Still I’m been in love with the story since it first came out. I believe Berger has done a great job of vindicating his approach as time passes and it’s a heck of solid discovery. Really helps put a few things into perspective.

There’s also this interview, (slow start, then gets up to speed.)

World of Paleoanthropology

… We are going to be talking about Homo naledi, of course, and the many challenges and astonishing discoveries that the cave system has thus far revealed.

More than that, however, we are going to be asking Dr. Berger some critical questions that I have heard swirling around the academic corridors. I want Dr. Berger to talk straight to you, the people, and explain why these discoveries are important not only to what it means to be human but also to what it means for the science, and why things were done in the way that they were. …

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Never heard of Homo naledi. It’s something new, right?

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Neither me

[Homo naledi - Wikipedia]

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Well you are in for a heck of an amazing ride. There’s plenty available on YouTube to watch and google if you want to look into the details.

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