In 2013, recreational cavers entered a South African chute and uncovered a human relative mystery

Two recreational cavers, Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker, managed to squeeze through a tight entrance into the Rising Star Cave System in South Africa back in 2013. They did not set out looking for ancient history; however, they found themselves making the discovery of a lifetime. Deep inside the Earth's interior, these cave explorers found an enormous pile of bones belonging to a previously unknown extinct hominin. This extinct member of the human family tree became known as Homo Naledi and changed everything we know about our ancestors.A fortunate discovery in the darknessAccording to information provided by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the story began back in October 2013, when Hunter and Tucker found the Dinaledi fossils first; Berger’s team organised the excavation later. It all started when the very first Hunter and Tucker found fossils in the Dinaledi Chamber; they later found additional remains in the Lesedi Chamber.The simple hobby soon escalated into a scientific endeavour. It is common knowledge that the Rising Star cave is extremely tricky when it comes to navigating; small tunnels and deep drops characterise this place. As difficult as it may have been for the research team to conduct their work in the cramped area, this very feature acted as a wonderful natural defence mechanism and allowed the bones to be protected within for many years.A new relativeInitially, the research team did not realise how many bones they were dealing with. What they thought was a mere set of scattered bones turned out to be a huge accumulation of fossilised remains. In 2015, in the journal eLife, the new species known as Homo Naledi was officially classified and named. This development marked an important point in the history of palaeontology, revealing unexpected branches of human evolution.There were a lot of bones found within this cave system. Experts needed to consider the geological formation of the cave and the distribution of bones to know why there was such a large amount of skeletal remains in the area. What made the study even more interesting was that the unique characteristics of Homo Naledi made it possible for researchers to study an ancient civilisation. The controversy over ancient burialsIt became obvious to many scientists that as more fossils were found, more questions were raised about them. Was it just a coincidence, or was something done intentionally by the members of this species to place the dead individuals in the cave system?This isolation of the caves has led to much discussion around whether these were intentional acts or not. Those who believed that they had been deliberately placed there say that there might have been some burial practices carried out in this species.Others disagree with this view and state that there is no scientific proof that they buried their dead in the caves or left rock art behind.The developing story with an enigmatic future aheadIn addition to the analysis of Homo Naledi, scientists have examined another fascinating discovery made in the Rising Star caves of early juveniles. The presence of juveniles in the cave is critical since it suggests that the site consists of remains of all age groups, allowing us to draw a complete image of the entire community.Many years later, when the very first light was cast on those bones deep inside the cave, one question still lingers over the enigmatic discoveries of the Rising Star. What can be definitely concluded is that two daring cavers and their discovery in South Africa have forever changed our perception of our ancestry.