A Riddle in the Dark: Was This Small-Brained Hominin the First to Bury Its Dead? Deep within a South African cave, a pile of ancient bones challenges everything we thought we knew about the origins of ritual and grief.

Small-brained Homo naledi buried its dead in a South African cave 300,000 years ago, new research suggests. This discovery challenges the link between brain size and ritual. #Paleoanthropology #Archaeology #HumanEvolution #RisingStarCave @johnhawks.net

#Burial isn’t just a Homo sapiens thing. From #Neanderthals in #Shanidar to the mysterious Homo naledi in #RisingStarCave, more #hominins may have laid their dead to rest than we once thought.

#PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #BurialMysteries #FossilFriday #HomoNaledi

How Homo naledi got into the Dinaledi Chamber New research from Dirk van Rooyen gives the most detailed look ever at the entry path into the deepest parts of the Rising Star cave system.

@johnhawks Summarizing the important work of van Rooyen et al on the nature of the “Chute” at #risingstarcave johnhawks.net/weblog/how-h...

While we prepare for an expedition at the #105site with @MaxPlanck our exploration team is working in the tight spaces of the #Risingstarcave mapping cultural sites thought to be made by #Homonaledi. These are some of the most experienced cave explorers in the world and we are very proud of them!

I can't just imagine when this happened to the Naledi, what would the poor guys think 🥲 #caveofbones what you think mister @LeeRberger ? And @johnhawks.bsky.social
#artwork #homonaledi #risingstarcave #art #paleoart

Just a quick #HomoNaledi walking animation wip #risingstarcave #caveofbones #peleoanthropology @LeeRberger and his team deserve the credit for the amazing discovery that sparked up my inspiration 👏
youtu.be/VlYcfk-rGcU
#animation #animation2d

It's not the same as it was before I lost my hard drive but here's an attempt- I remade Neo the #homonaledi stylized with a buddy of his Reeds the Quagga #hominid #naledi #reconstruction #evolution #ocart #human #risingstarcave #caveofbones #artwork #paleoanthropology #paleoart