(Maropeng) The discovery of fossils of a child’s skull in a cave in South Africa, announced Thursday by researchers, relaunches the enigma around the distant cousins of Man, called Homo naledi, whose first evidence of existence had called into question certain theories on Evolution.
Twenty-eight fragments of a tiny skull and six tiny teeth were found in Maropeng, near Johannesburg. For years, the very rich archaeological site of the “Cradle of Humanity”, full of caves and pre-human fossils and classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been a treasure trove of information for paleontologists.
The remains were found in an almost inaccessible alcove, at the end of passages sometimes measuring only 10 cm wide. But for Homo naledi, moving around the cave was probably easier, according to one of the scientists who participated in the discovery: smaller, they were also “better climbers,” Tebogo Makhubela told AFP.
“The real mystery about this child is why she ended up there,” said research lead paleontologist Lee Berger. “Something amazing happened in this cave 200,000 to 300,000 years ago.” Although scientists refer to the child as female, its gender has not been determined.
Bones of fifteen individuals of this ancient human species had already been found elsewhere on the site in 2015. The species nicknamed “star” in Sesotho, a local South African language, had been classified in the genus Homo to which it belongs. modern man.
Their examination revealed a portrait of an astonishing small hominid, endowed with both the characteristics of species that are millions of years old, such as a tiny brain, and others much more recent, such as walker’s feet. contemporary and hands capable of holding tools.
“The lost”
A dating had determined that he would have lived at the beginning of what is considered to be the beginning of the era of modern man and could therefore have been contemporary with the first Homo sapiens. This theory questioning linear readings of the evolution of Humanity had aroused controversy in the scientific community.
The remains of the child, nicknamed Leti after a Setswana word meaning “the lost one”, were found at a distance from the previous bones. Scientists believe that they may have been left there voluntarily by his fellows, perhaps during a funeral rite.
If this theory were confirmed, it would go back the evidence of the practice of rites and probably also of beliefs, to a quarter of a million years. So far, the oldest known hominid rituals associated with death date back between 50,000 and 100,000 years.
No other bones were found. The skull did not show any marks, like those left by an attack by a carnivore. Researchers rarely find fossilized remains of children because their bones are too thin and fragile to withstand time.
The child was probably four to six years old when he died. Her baby teeth were still intact, the adult ones only beginning to appear.
This discovery could allow us to learn more about the transition, about two million years ago, between the primitive Australopithecus and the primate of the genus Homo, direct ancestor of Man. It was published in the scientific journal PaleoAnthropology.