Homo naledi

In news– Recently, the first ancient fossil of a Homo naledi child was found in the Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.

Background–

A new member was introduced to the family tree of humans in 2015. Fossil hominins from the Rising Star cave system outside Johannesburg, South Africa, were found to belong to a previously unidentified hominin species, which was then named Homo naledi.

Key findings –

A team of researchers led by Professor Lee Berger, a palaeoanthropologist from South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, has revealed the first partial skull of a Homo naledi child, also from the Rising Star cave.
They have estimated that the child died almost 250,000 years ago, at the age between four and six years old.
The child has been named “Leti” after the Setswana word “letimela”, meaning “the lost one”.
The “Underground Astronauts” is a nickname for the group of six scientists and excavators from the original Rising Star expedition.
The new fossil area, U.W.110, where the child’s remains were recovered, is in a very small passage in the Dinaledi Chamber.
The Dinaledi Chamber is just one in a sub-system of chambers and passages within the larger Rising Star system.
It is 12 metres away from where researchers originally excavated adult Homo naledi fossils.

The Rising Star cave system–

It is located in the Cradle of Humankind, just outside Johannesburg.
It’s a large area that has many caves, cave systems and underground rivers, and it has been famous for important fossil finds since the 1920s.
It is a complex network of tunnels, passages, squeezes and chambers, some of which interconnect.

Family tree of humans–