Tiny Brains of Extinct Human Relative Had Complex Features

N Y Times ^

[BenLurkin]

In 2013 scientists excavating a cave in South Africa found remains of Homo naledi, an extinct hominin now thought to have lived 236,000 to 335,000 years ago. Based on the cranial remains, the researchers concluded it had a small brain only about the size of an orange or your fist. Recently, they took another look at the skull fragments and found imprints left behind by the brain. The impressions suggest that despite its tiny size, Homo naledi’s brain shared a similar shape and structure with that of modern human brains, which are three times as large.

“We’ve now seen that you can package the complexity of a large brain in a tiny packet,” said Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at Wits University in South Africa and an author of the paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

...

Since its remains were first retrieved, Homo naledi has puzzled scientists. From head to toe the ancient hominin displays a medley of primitive, apelike features and more advanced, humanlike characteristics.

“It’s this mosaic that is unlike anything we have seen or expected,” said Dr. Berger who first discovered Homo naledi in the Dinaledi Chamber in South Africa’s Rising Star cave system.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin. IOW, Homo Floriensis wasn't because it wasn't found in Africa. Master race nonsense ping. :^)

[COBOL2Java]

He kind of looks like my first landlord

[blam]

This is the site where they had to recruit small bodied archaeologists because the cave and cave opening were so small that average sized people couldn't go in there.

Much more has been found:

New Haul Of Homo Naledi Bones Sheds Surprising Light On Human Evolution

When fossil hunters unveiled the remains of a mysterious and archaic new species of human found deep inside a cave in South Africa two years ago, the scientific community was stunned. Since then, bodies of the long-lost family members have piled up.

In work published on Tuesday in the journal eLife, the team reveals how high that pile has become. They now have the remnants of at least 18 Homo naledi, as the species is named. The most recent haul of bones, found in a cave chamber 100 metres from the first, includes a nearly complete adult skull.

Tests on the material found the bones to be between 335,000 and 236,000 years old, making them far younger than many scientists had expected. “It means that this species of primitive hominid was actually around at the same time as Homo sapiens,” said Lee Berger, the lead scientist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

The bones, remarkably, show few signs of disease or stress from poor development, suggesting that Homo naledi may have been the dominant species in the area at the time. “They are the healthiest dead things you’ll ever see,” said Berger.

(snip)

[blam]