scholarly journals Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee R Berger ◽  
John Hawks ◽  
Darryl J de Ruiter ◽  
Steven E Churchill ◽  
Peter Schmid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Cranial Morphology ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Early Homo ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Unknown Species ◽  
Cradle Of Humankind

Homo naledi is a previously-unknown species of extinct hominin discovered within the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. This species is characterized by body mass and stature similar to small-bodied human populations but a small endocranial volume similar to australopiths. Cranial morphology of H. naledi is unique, but most similar to early Homo species including Homo erectus, Homo habilis or Homo rudolfensis. While primitive, the dentition is generally small and simple in occlusal morphology. H. naledi has humanlike manipulatory adaptations of the hand and wrist. It also exhibits a humanlike foot and lower limb. These humanlike aspects are contrasted in the postcrania with a more primitive or australopith-like trunk, shoulder, pelvis and proximal femur. Representing at least 15 individuals with most skeletal elements repeated multiple times, this is the largest assemblage of a single species of hominins yet discovered in Africa.

scholarly journals Naledi: An example of how natural phenomena can inspire metaphysical assumptions

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francois Durand
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Cave System ◽  
The World ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Fossil Site ◽  
Cradle Of Humankind ◽  
Remote Part

A new fossil site was discovered in the Rising Star Cave in 2013 in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa. This site which has yielded 1550 hominin bones so far is considered to be one of the richest palaeoanthropological sites in the world. The deposition of the fossils in a remote part of the cave system, approximately 100 m from the entrance, has resulted in a great deal of speculation. The relative inaccessibility of the site and the number of fossil bones it contained and the fact that virtually all these bones were those of a single species of hominid led to the conclusion that the bones were not deposited because of natural sedimentary processes, but that these phenomena were evidence of purposeful disposal or even burial of the dead by hominins. If this assumption is true, it would be the earliest evidence of a metaphysical awareness in humankind. The tenuous evidence on which this hypothesis rests will be discussed and a more plausible alternative explanation where water and gravity were responsible for the deposition of the remains is forwarded.

Into the Woods Early Homo sapiens and Tropical Forest Colonization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Early Homo ◽  
Middle And Late Pleistocene

Popular philosophical associations of tropical forests, and forests in general, with an inherent ancestral state, away from the stresses, pollution, and technosphere of modern life, are nicely summarized by Murakami’s quote above (2002). Given the probable origins of the hominin clade in tropical forests, this quote is also apt from an evolutionary standpoint. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, tropical forests have frequently been considered impenetrable barriers to the global migration of Homo sapiens (Gamble, 1993; Finlayson, 2014). As was the case with the focus on ‘savannastan’ in facilitating the Early Pleistocene expansion of Homo erectus discussed in Chapter 3 (Dennell and Roebroeks, 2005), the movement of H. sapiens into tropical regions such as South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia has tended to be linked to Late Pleistocene periods when forests contracted and grasslands expanded (Bird et al., 2005; Boivin et al., 2013). Alternative narratives have focused on the importance of coastal adaptations as providing a rich source of protein and driving cultural and technological complexity, as well as mobility, in human populations during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (Mellars, 2006; Marean, 2016). The evidence of early art and symbolism at coastal cave sites such as Blombos in South Africa (Henshilwood et al., 2002, 2011; Vanhaeren et al., 2013) and Taforalt in North Africa (Bouzouggar et al., 2007) is often used to emphasize the role of marine habitats in the earliest cultural emergence of our species. Indeed, for the last decade, the pursuit of rich marine resources (Mellars, 2005, 2006) has been a popular explanation for the supposed rapidity of the ‘southern dispersal route’, whereby humans left Africa 60 ka, based on genetic information (e.g., Macaulay et al., 2005), to reach the Pleistocene landmass that connected Australia and New Guinea (Sahul) by c. 65 ka (Clarkson et al., 2017). In both of these cases, the coast or expanses of grassland have been seen as homogeneous corridors, facilitating rapid expansion without novel adaptation.

scholarly journals Early Homo , plasticity and the extended evolutionary synthesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 20170004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan C. Antón ◽  
Christopher W. Kuzawa
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Evolutionary Synthesis ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Extended Evolutionary Synthesis ◽  
Early Homo ◽  
Regional Diversification

The Modern Synthesis led to fundamental advances in understandings of human evolution. For human palaeontology, a science that works from ancestral phenotypes (i.e. the fossil record), particularly important have been perspectives used to help understand the heritable aspects of phenotypes and how fossil individuals might then be aggregated into species, and relationships among these groups understood. This focus, coupled with the fragmentary nature of the fossil record, however, means that individual phenotypic variation is often treated as unimportant ‘noise’, rather than as a source of insight into population adaptation and evolutionary process. The emphasis of the extended evolutionary synthesis on plasticity as a source of phenotypic novelty, and the related question of the role of such variation in long-term evolutionary trends, focuses welcome attention on non-genetic means by which novel phenotypes are generated and in so doing provides alternative approaches to interpreting the fossil record. We review evidence from contemporary human populations regarding some of the aspects of adult phenotypes preserved in the fossil record that might be most responsive to non-genetic drivers, and we consider how these perspectives lead to alternate hypotheses for interpreting the fossil record of early genus Homo. We conclude by arguing that paying closer attention to the causes and consequences of intraspecific phenotypic variation in its own right, as opposed to as noise around a species mean, may inspire a new generation of hypotheses regarding species diversity in the Early Pleistocene and the foundations for dispersal and regional diversification in Homo erectus and its descendants .

scholarly journals Remains of a barn owl (Tyto alba) from the Dinaledi Chamber, Rising Star Cave, South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (11/12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Kruger ◽  
Shaw Badenhorst
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Barn Owl ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Modern Bird ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
Cradle Of Humankind ◽  
Small Sample Sizes

Excavations during November 2013 in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa uncovered over 1550 specimens of a new hominin, Homo naledi. A total of four modern bird bones were collected from the surface of the Dinaledi Chamber during the first phase of the initial excavations. While mentioned in the geological and taphonomic descriptions, the presumably modern or sub-modern bird remains have not been formally identified or described until now. Here we identify these remains as indistinguishable from those of a modern barn owl (Tyto alba). Tyto alba is today common to the region and known to contribute microfaunal remains at many Plio-Pleistocene sites in the Cradle of Humankind. Based on the greatest length measurement and breadth of the proximal articulation of the specimen, it is suggested that the owl from the Dinaledi Chamber is more similar to that of females of the species, despite the small sample sizes available for comparison. It is unclear how the remains of this female owl came to be in the remote Dinaledi Chamber. Significance: Owl bones from the Dinaledi Chamber are the only other macro-vertebrate remains from this Chamber. The other remains discovered are that of more than 15 individuals of the enigmatic Homo naledi. The remains of the Dinaledi Chamber owl further our understanding of the contents of the important material contained within the Dinaledi system as they are the only more recent fossils to be recovered from this area of the Rising Star Cave system and are therefore important in and of themselves as an indicator that more proximal parts of the Rising Star Cave system have been suitable for use by barn owls at greater time depths than the present.

scholarly journals Endocast morphology of Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (22) ◽  
pp. 5738-5743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph L. Holloway ◽  
Shawn D. Hurst ◽  
Heather M. Garvin ◽  
P. Thomas Schoenemann ◽  
William B. Vanti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Behavioral Evolution ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Endocranial Volume

Hominin cranial remains from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa, represent multiple individuals of the species Homo naledi. This species exhibits a small endocranial volume comparable to Australopithecus, combined with several aspects of external cranial anatomy similar to larger-brained species of Homo such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus. Here, we describe the endocast anatomy of this recently discovered species. Despite the small size of the H. naledi endocasts, they share several aspects of structure in common with other species of Homo, not found in other hominins or great apes, notably in the organization of the inferior frontal and lateral orbital gyri. The presence of such structural innovations in a small-brained hominin may have relevance to behavioral evolution within the genus Homo.

scholarly journals Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6486) ◽  
pp. eaaw7293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy I. R. Herries ◽  
Jesse M. Martin ◽  
A. B. Leece ◽  
Justin W. Adams ◽  
Giovanni Boschian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Early Homo ◽  
Endemic Evolution ◽  
Geological Context

Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early Homo specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of Paranthropus robustus, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to Homo erectus. These crania also show that Homo, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.

Plio-pleistocene Hominids: Epistemological and Taxonomic Problems

1970 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-202
Author(s):  
Jolanta Koszteyn
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Homo Heidelbergensis ◽  
Genealogical Tree ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Homo Antecessor ◽  
Historical Times

Within the historical times, which roughly corresponds with the Holocene epoch, the whole of mankind is believed to be a single species. Homo sapiens. But the human genealogical tree (phylogeny) is populated by a really astounding number of paleontological species and paleontological genera: Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus anamensis, Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, Paranthropus boisei, Homo habilis, Homo georgicus. Homo erectus, Homo ergaster, Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens. (cf. Gyula 2002). In fact there are many more (Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Orrorin tugenensis, Kenyanthropus platyops, Australopithecus garhi, Australopithecus aethiopicus) but Foley (2002), quite reasonably, states that the evidence for their existence is, at present, insufficient. The existence of these multiple forms is beyond any doubt. The doubt, however arises concerning the human or „prehuman" status of them. Were they really true specific forms, half-way between the apes and Holocene man? Is it possible that they constitute a number of different ecotypes (or paleoraces) within the same natural species of Homo sapiens?

scholarly journals Dmanisi hominin fossils and the problem of the multiple species in the early Homo genus

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Santiago Wolnei Ferreira Guimarães ◽  
Carlos Lorenzo Merino
Keyword(s):  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Early Homo ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Variation Range ◽  
Multiple Species ◽  
Unique Species

The D4500 (Skull 5), dated 1.8 Mya., is the most complete fossil within the set of five skulls found in Dmanisi, Georgia, as well as any other fossils associated to contexts of occupation of the early Pleistocene. Its discovery has brought forward the debate of the plurality of species, not just at the beginning of the Homo genus, but for much of its evolution.  The Skull 5 fossil presents a mixure of primitive and derivates characters associated to the Homo erectus and Homo habilis sensu lato. Based on the data referring to the five skulls researchers have considered the hypothesis of a single evolving lineage of early Homo as a mode to explain the great variation range of the Dmanisi fossils, similar to the range found in habilines. In other words, it is an explanation that reiterates the existence of only one unique species in the early of the Homo genus: the Homo erectus in a sensu lato. Our work consists of evaluating such supposition through the calculation of the coefficient of variation, which was estimated from the referred set and compared to those from already known species. Results achieved did not support the thinking that one unique species was able to bear all fossils of the early of Homo genus.  

scholarly journals A checklist of the non-acarine arachnids (Chelicerata: Arachnida) of the Ndumo Game Reserve, Maputaland, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
C.R. Haddad ◽  
A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman ◽  
W. Wesołowska
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Acacia Tortilis ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Floodplain Vegetation ◽  
Game Reserve ◽  
Sand Forest ◽  
Fig Tree

Arachnids (Chelicerata: Arachnida) were collected in the Ndumo Game Reserve (Maputaland, South Africa) during 11 collecting trips in the period 2000–2006. Sampling was undertaken by various methods in eight broad habitat types: Acacia tortilis savanna; Acacia xanthophloea (fever tree) forests; deciduous broadleaf woodland; Ficus (wild fig tree) forests; floodplain vegetation; riparian forest; sand forest; and subtropical bush. In total, 457 species of arachnids were collected, representing six orders, 59 families and 240 determined genera. The most diverse order was the Araneae (46 families, 431 spp.), followed by the Pseudoscorpiones (6 families, 12 spp.), Scorpiones (3 families, 8 spp.), Opiliones (2 families, 3 spp.), Solifugae (1 family, 2 spp.) and Amblypygi (a single species). The most diverse families all belonged to the Araneae: Salticidae (82 spp.), Thomisidae (56 spp.) and Araneidae (38 spp.). The spider diversity is the highest recorded from any protected area in South Africa so far, and represents approximately 22 % of the country’s spider fauna. The habitat and guild associations of each species are provided.

scholarly journals Immunogenicity of Novel DosR Regulon-Encoded Candidate Antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Three High-Burden Populations in Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1203-1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian F. Black ◽  
Bonnie A. Thiel ◽  
Martin O. Ota ◽  
Shreemanta K. Parida ◽  
Richard Adegbola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
South African ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Protein Antigens ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Dosr Regulon ◽  
Interferon Responses

ABSTRACT Increasing knowledge about DosR regulon-encoded proteins has led us to produce novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens for immunogenicity testing in human populations in three countries in Africa to which tuberculosis (TB) is endemic. A total of 131 tuberculin skin test-positive and/or ESAT-6/CFP10-positive, human immunodeficiency virus-negative adult household contacts of active pulmonary TB cases from South Africa (n = 56), The Gambia (n = 26), and Uganda (n = 49) were tested for gamma interferon responses to 7 classical and 51 DosR regulon-encoded M. tuberculosis recombinant protein antigens. ESAT-6/CFP10 fusion protein evoked responses in >75% of study participants in all three countries. Of the DosR regulon-encoded antigens tested, Rv1733c was the most commonly recognized by participants from both South Africa and Uganda and the third most commonly recognized antigen in The Gambia. The four most frequently recognized DosR regulon-encoded antigens in Uganda (Rv1733c, Rv0081, Rv1735c, and Rv1737c) included the three most immunogenic antigens in South Africa. In contrast, Rv3131 induced the highest percentage of responders in Gambian contacts (38%), compared to only 3.4% of Ugandan contacts and no South African contacts. Appreciable percentages of TB contacts with a high likelihood of latent M. tuberculosis infection responded to several novel DosR regulon-encoded M. tuberculosis proteins. In addition to significant similarities in antigen recognition profiles between the three African population groups, there were also disparities, which may stem from genetic differences between both pathogen and host populations. Our findings have implications for the selection of potential TB vaccine candidates and for determining biosignatures of latent M. tuberculosis infection, active TB disease, and protective immunity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document