Speaker:  Scott Williams, Ph.D.

Topic: An Afternoon with Scott Williams

Assistant Professor of Anthropology – Center for the Study of Human Origins

Acting on a tip from spelunkers two years ago, scientists in South Africa discovered what the cavers had only dimly glimpsed through a crack in a limestone wall deep in the Rising Star Cave: lots and lots of old bones.The remains covered the earthen floor beyond the narrow opening. This was, the scientists concluded, a large, dark chamber for the dead of a previously unidentified species of the early human lineage — Homo naledi. The species name, H. naledi, refers to the cave where the bones lay undisturbed for so long; “naledi” means “star” in the local Sesotho language.

In what is being hailed as one of the most significant discoveries of the past 50 years, a team of research specialists including two NYU anthropologists has discovered a new species of human ancestors known as Homo naledi in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The team, led by University of Witwatersrand professor Lee Berger, has been conducting expeditions to expand the knowledge gained from new fossils that contribute to the understanding of human origins.

The exploration took place in the Rising Star Cave located at the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site, where explorers found incredible amounts of fossils in a chamber, accessible only through a narrow chute 100 yards from the cave’s entrance.

The 1,500 bones, recovered in late 2013, were incredibly well-preserved and showed no sign of a catastrophic event, suggesting that the previously isolated cave had been used as a burial ground for the dead. This theory is particularly notable because it indicates that Homo naledi may have thought about mortality, a behavior that had been uniquely associated with humans.