A few years ago , archeologist made a striking discovery : A new coinage of hominin that seemed to show a mix of both primitive and forward-looking features that live around 3 million year ago . It ferment out thatHomo naledimight bemuch youngerthan previously thought .
In aninterview with National Geographic cartridge clip , Lee Berger , who read the original discovery of the remains of the primitive human species deep in a cave in South Africa , has said that they have revised the estimates of just how old the fogy really are . While the initial estimates claimed that they were somewhere in the region of 3 million age one-time , they now thinkthat they are more likely to be roughly 250,000 years old .
When news broke of the discovery ofHomo naledi , it reverberate throughout the scientific community of interests . What stood out about the new mintage of hominin was the fascinating intermixture of characteristic it exhibit , unlike anything seen in other species . While the fogy display many facial expression that would usually place it within theHomogenus – which includes not only ourselves , but Neanderthals and Denisovans – they also had some other , more rude characteristics .
The sizing of the skull and the morphology of the ribcage , for lesson , was more closely matched to what we see in the more archaic australopiths , which develop in Africa around 4 million years ago . But the shape of the cranium , sizing of the teeth , and the leg , foot , and ankles , are more similar to the genusHomo . In addition to that , there are other feature , such as the gracile hand , that are like neither groups of hominins .
This mosaic of characteristics is unusual , and throws into question what we thought we knew about human evolution . It used to be thought that the large wit size and complex creature manipulation evolved in step with modest tooth dimensions and foresighted legs . But the small brain , long leggedH. nalediseems to question this . And now the revision of the dates in which they subsist mix up affair up a little further .
The primary question now is how such an primitive species survive to such a recent appointment . Berger pronounce that their estimates for the date of the fossils is between 300 and 200,000 years ago , which is intriguing indeed . This is because our own mintage , Homo sapiens , is thought to have develop at around this time in East Africa , with many now speculatingas to whether the two species may have once cope with , and even musing as to whether we may have had a hand in their eventual dying .
It is implausibly significant to note at this spot that this is pure hypothesis , but it is not without precedent . Europe was once inhabit by Neanderthals , Siberia by Denisovans , and Indonesia by the “ hobbit ” people until our specie rocked up .
