Researchers reveal that Homo naledi probably made and used fire.
Homo naledi are the ones that were discovered in an extremely-difficult-to-get-to cave system in Africa….how difficult? The original team was made of petite women selected on basis of size and caving ability, since they needed to be able to squeeze through a seven-inch-wide gap and climb over and down cave features such as The Dragon’s Back. Head archaeologist Lee Berger needed to lose fifty pounds to be able to get in there himself. And, as seen in the diagram below….there was at least one significant hangup for Prof. Berger in 2014.

Last August, Berger climbed down a narrow shaft and examined two underground chambers where H. naledi fossils had been found. He noticed stalactites and thin rock sheets that had partly grown over older ceiling surfaces. Those surfaces displayed blackened, burned areas and were also dotted by what appeared to be soot particles, Berger said.
Meanwhile, expedition codirector and Wits paleoanthropologist Keneiloe Molopyane led excavations of a nearby cave chamber. There, the researchers uncovered two small fireplaces containing charred bits of wood, and burned bones of antelopes and other animals. Remains of a fireplace and nearby burned animal bones were then discovered in a more remote cave chamber where H. naledi fossils have been found, Berger said.
Isn’t that just Way Cool?
Berger has hinted that there are even more groundshaking announcements to be made, and I’m all in for it.
[Even though I thought The Science Was Settled, TM, but w/e.]
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