First Homo naledi child fossil found in the Cradle of Humankind
The child likely lived between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago, which is when other remains from the cave have been dated.
“This is the first partial skull of a child of Homo naledi yet recovered and this begins to give us insight into all stages of life of this remarkable species,” said Juliet Brophy, lead author of the study analyzing the skull, in a statement. Brophy is an associate professor at Louisiana State University and honorary research affiliate at the University of the Witwatersrand.
It’s unknown if the child was male or female, but researchers have nicknamed the fossil “Leti” and often refer to Leti as female. The name is short for “letimela,” which means “the lost one” in the Setswana language, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
It’s unknown how Leti died, and her age is based on her teeth. “But at present we have not established exactly how fast Homo naledi children grew, so it is possible she was younger,” the researchers said.
Leti was found in 2017 in what is described as an incredibly remote passage of the Rising Star Cave System, about 39 feet (12 meters) from where Berger’s team discovered the first Homo naledi remains in the Dinaledi Chamber. The cave system is located in the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa’s Gauteng province.
But how did Leti’s skull come to be in the cave? The fragments of her cranium were retrieved from a limestone shelf in an extremely narrow passage only 5.9 inches (15 centimeters) wide by 31.4 inches (80 centimeters) in length. The shelf was about 31 inches above the current cave floor. It’s possible that her skull was placed there on purpose. Researchers are still investigating if the cave system is truly a burial ground for Homo naledi.
Previously, it was believed only modern humans buried their dead.
Leti’s discovery is similar to how Neo, the remains of an adult male Homo naledi from another chamber, were discovered in a narrow passage.
“The area where Leti was found is part of a spiderweb of cramped passages,” said Maropeng Ramalepa, a member of the exploration team responsible for bringing the remains to the surface, in a statement.
“This was one of the more challenging sites with hominin fossils we have had to get to in the Rising Star system,” Elliott said in a statement.
Leti’s skull showed no signs of damage made by a carnivore or scavenging, and there is no evidence that water may have carried the skull into the passage.
“The discovery of a single skull of a child, in such a remote location within the cave system adds mystery as to how these many remains came to be in these remote, dark spaces of the…
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