Explorer Lee Berger on the Discovery of New Species Homo Naledi

Paleoanthropologist and explorer Lee Berger has made an important new discovery in the human family tree: a new species called Homo naledi. In this interview with journalist Bill Blakemore, Berger gives the details of the find, how it came about, the difficulty in recovering the fossils, and why it's such an important find.

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[DScottWhitaker]

Outstanding.. Slowly but surely were getting there. The human lineage becomes clearer with every successful campaign like this.

[donaburns]

I've seen all these videos but I find myself coming back and watching again, in part because it gives me such joy just to re-experience the amazing finds and just maybe I missed something on the first viewing. If I was even twenty years younger (70 feels a bit too old for the adventure given the health issues I'm dealing with) I would be searching for caves to explore. Wow! Congratulations to all of you.

[acar]

Mathew deserves a place in the history of science! I wish him the best! I hope he will become a very good scientist!

[nehadff]

congratulation for the science, Go forward, show the world more evidence. Thanks for all the scientist in the project.

[circularlogic]

This is a wonderful story and a priceless find. Bravo.

[ThePerceptionist]

such a great find and another chapter in our evolution :)

[asifmetal]

when I first heard the news I was celebrating like my team scored the wining goal. anybody feel this way. when I finally heard this maybe the missing link n it can change our human evolution theory forever. I was screaming

[glaswurm]

How can one man be so lucky to explore all these fossils? My respect!

[Amillionyawn]

It'd be wonderful to be an archeologist's child

[deanwcampbell]

Sorry; but when it comes to one of the most important discoveries of our human history, I believe that the highest trained professionals should be used to unearth, understand and document those finding.
If training and experience holds little value, then why peruse an eight year degree?

[johndoe]

Only in Africa can such advanced be discoveries be made

[martiniusafricanus]

I was happy to meet the good folks at WITs!

[KenAmmi-Shalom]

This is the problem with pop-science reports and pop-science (mis)understanding. This is at the very first stage of research and no conclusions should be claimed as of yet.The H. naledi reconstruction is a typical worldview based one with white in the eyes, a pensive look, etc.They show the skeletons laid down flat on a table so as to make it appear that they stood upright.Also, from what I could tell thus far, the skulls are missing the portion that would contain the foramen magnum which would help identify human vs. ape or monkey (humans have this neck hole at the bottom of the skull but apes and monkeys at towards the back.One of my favorites was an article I read which confirmed that they “have not been able to find out how long ago these creatures lived” but Prof Lee Berger “believed they could be among the first of our kind (genus Homo) and could have lived in Africa up to three million years ago"--'cause, sure why not? ;o)

[spoddie]

I bet mum didn't know about this!

[TheSqoou]

What was it? Was it some sort of burial hole or maybe a natural trap they all got stuck in? Could it have been a ceremonial thing or just a way to get rid of bodies? It's cool that you guys found it, but what is it?

[glaswurm]

Actually, the reality is much more exciting than any story of creation.

[HeidiSue]

when did this happen? He just mentioned November something...? so was it last year?

[graduator]

Maybe if these ancestors would've stopped "monkeying around" They would still exist today! ;p

[rocketsurgeon]

Bones sitting in soft dirt after over 1 million years? Seems like a long time to have bones last in soft dirt....

[robertoday]

Their could have been snakes in the caves when they were looking for old skulls and skeletons