Homo Naledi – Distant Relative?

A team from the University of Witwatersrand found some bones that had characteristics of early human ancestors.  They discovered these bones in the Rising Star caves in South Africa back in 2013.  The bones showed that these early humans – Homo Naledi by name – had the brain size of a gorilla, the body the size of an ape, and walked upright somewhat like humans now.   This is not the only discovery of the history of our species.

Researchers found fossils of Homo Sapiens in Morocco and not in East Africa like first thought back in 2017.  This discovery has changed the minds of paleontologists about early human anatomy and behavior revealing that Homo Naledi may not just be a cousin but close to modern humans.  They had wrists and hands that could have made and used tools.

Research has noted that these hominins (early humans) emerged as far back as 2 million years ago, but now believe they existed only 236,000 to 335,000 years ago.  Homo Sapiens emerged from apes around 6-7 million years ago.  The findings believe that the evolution of humans was a complex process.  With some interbreeding and diverging.  In this process humans developed bigger brains and walked at a more upright position from earlier humans.