Homo Naledi and the Cave of Bones Controversy - TAS 246

This week we tackle one of our favorite topics - controversy! Last summer, the team working on the Rising Star Cave site in South Africa released a series of pre-prints making some incredible claims about the pre-human species, Homo Naledi. They were closely followed by the Netflix documentary, Cave of Bones which captured the attention of the public. However, other researchers are pushing back, claiming lack of solid evidence and published peer reviewed research. Join us while we look at both sides of the debate, and let us know where you land!

Links

* Controversial Claims About Homo Naledi Are Stirring Up Evolution [https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/homo-naledi-burial-critique-0020003]

* Enigmatic Hominin Seemingly Buried Dead and Carved Symbols 100,000 Years Before Modern Humans [https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/homo-naledi-burials-0018582]

* Unknown: Cave of Bones - Netflix Documentary [https://www.netflix.com/title/81473682]

* No scientific evidence that Homo Naledi buried their dead and produced rock art [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248423001434]

* Cave of Bones Explorer's Club Talk with Dr. Lee Berger [https://www.youtube.com/live/cIrV_fgfrs8?si=7zdQKsn85GsR0AK8]

* 241,000 to 335,000 Years Old Rock Engravings Made by Homo naledi in the Rising Star Cave system, South Africa [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.01.543133v1]

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