Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2017 May 9:6:e26775.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.26775.

New opportunities rising

Jessica C Thompson  1
Affiliations
Comment

New opportunities rising

Jessica C Thompson. Elife. .

Abstract

More fossil specimens and an eagerly awaited age for Homo naledi raise new questions and open fresh opportunities for paleoanthropologists.

Keywords: Dinaledi Chamber; Homo naledi; Lesedi Chamber; evolutionary biology; genomics; hominin; human evolution; none; paleoanthropology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. The Rising Star cave system and other archaeological sites in southern Africa from around the Middle Pleistocene.
(A) The Homo naledi fossils were found in the Rising Star cave system (shown with a star). (B) A close-up of the boxed area in A shows the distribution of dated Middle Pleistocene or likely Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites in southern Africa. Sites are colored based on their age compared to the Rising Star sites. Sites with hominin remains contain a small black circle. Topography is GTOPO30 data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa.
    Hawks J, Elliott M, Schmid P, Churchill SE, Ruiter DJ, Roberts EM, Hilbert-Wolf H, Garvin HM, Williams SA, Delezene LK, Feuerriegel EM, Randolph-Quinney P, Kivell TL, Laird MF, Tawane G, DeSilva JM, Bailey SE, Brophy JK, Meyer MR, Skinner MM, Tocheri MW, VanSickle C, Walker CS, Campbell TL, Kuhn B, Kruger A, Tucker S, Gurtov A, Hlophe N, Hunter R, Morris H, Peixotto B, Ramalepa M, Rooyen DV, Tsikoane M, Boshoff P, Dirks PH, Berger LR. Hawks J, et al. Elife. 2017 May 9;6:e24232. doi: 10.7554/eLife.24232. Elife. 2017. PMID: 28483039 Free PMC article.
  • The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa.
    Dirks PH, Roberts EM, Hilbert-Wolf H, Kramers JD, Hawks J, Dosseto A, Duval M, Elliott M, Evans M, Grün R, Hellstrom J, Herries AI, Joannes-Boyau R, Makhubela TV, Placzek CJ, Robbins J, Spandler C, Wiersma J, Woodhead J, Berger LR. Dirks PH, et al. Elife. 2017 May 9;6:e24231. doi: 10.7554/eLife.24231. Elife. 2017. PMID: 28483040 Free PMC article.
  • Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa.
    Berger LR, Hawks J, Dirks PH, Elliott M, Roberts EM. Berger LR, et al. Elife. 2017 May 9;6:e24234. doi: 10.7554/eLife.24234. Elife. 2017. PMID: 28483041 Free PMC article.

References

    1. Ackermann RR, Mackay A, Arnold ML. The hybrid origin of "modern" humans. Evolutionary Biology. 2016;43:1–11. doi: 10.1007/s11692-015-9348-1. - DOI
    1. Antón SC, Potts R, Aiello LC. Evolution of early Homo: an integrated biological perspective. Science. 2014;345:1236828. doi: 10.1126/science.1236828. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Berger LR, Hawks J, de Ruiter DJ, Churchill SE, Schmid P, Delezene LK, Kivell TL, Garvin HM, Williams SA, DeSilva JM, Skinner MM, Musiba CM, Cameron N, Holliday TW, Harcourt-Smith W, Ackermann RR, Bastir M, Bogin B, Bolter D, Brophy J, Cofran ZD, Congdon KA, Deane AS, Dembo M, Drapeau M, Elliott MC, Feuerriegel EM, Garcia-Martinez D, Green DJ, Gurtov A, Irish JD, Kruger A, Laird MF, Marchi D, Meyer MR, Nalla S, Negash EW, Orr CM, Radovcic D, Schroeder L, Scott JE, Throckmorton Z, Tocheri MW, VanSickle C, Walker CS, Wei P, Zipfel B. Homo naledi , a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa. eLife. 2015;4:e09560. doi: 10.7554/eLife.09560. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berger LR, Hawks J, Dirks PHGM, Elliott M, Roberts EM. Homo naledi and pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa. eLife. 2017;6:e24234. doi: 10.7554/eLife.24234. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dembo M, Radovčić D, Garvin HM, Laird MF, Schroeder L, Scott JE, Brophy J, Ackermann RR, Musiba CM, de Ruiter DJ, Mooers AØ, Collard M. The evolutionary relationships and age of Homo naledi: an assessment using dated Bayesian phylogenetic methods. Journal of Human Evolution. 2016;97:17–26. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.04.008. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources