Researchers have uncovered evidence that members of a mysterious archaic human species buried their dead and carved symbols on cave walls long before the earliest evidence of burials by modern humans.
The brains belonging to the extinct species, known as Homo naledi, were around one-third the size of a modern human brain.
The study team lays out fossils of Homo naledi at the University of the Witwatersrand's Evolutionary Studies Institute in Johannesburg.
Fossils belonging to Homo naledi were first discovered in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa during excavations in 2013.
A reconstruction of Homo naledi's head by paleoartist John Gurche, who spent some 700 hours recreating the head from bone scans.
“These recent findings suggest intentional burials, the use of symbols, and meaning-making activities by Homo naledi.
In 2018, the team began to find evidence that supported the idea that Homo naledi intentionally buried their dead. »
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