above Berger and other scientists would watch them work via the camera feeds providing advice and help along the way Despite these precautions the scientists would be making a hazardous climb In recognition of their dedication to science Berger nicknamed them the underground astronauts Fossils Brought to Light Because the chamber was small only three of the scientists would descend at a time The first group to make the journey included Elliott Peixotto and Morris When she first saw the chute that dropped into the bone filled chamber Elliott questioned taking the job It's a long crack punctuated by shark teeth protrusions I remember looking down and thinking I'm not sure I made the right decision After making it through the chute Elliott entered the chamber It was topped with stalactites and smooth cave rock called flowstone Below on the ground were the fossils Elliott compared the sight with Egyptologist Howard Carter first gazing into the gold filled treasure chamber of pharaoh Tutankhamen's unlooted tomb When asked what he saw Carter replied Things wondrous things This time the scientists seeing wondrous things were women Fossils may look similar to stone but they are fragile To bring up the jawbone the scientists slipped it into a plastic bag wrapped the bag in Bubble Wrap and placed the bundle in a plastic box Elliott carried it to the surface turning it over to Berger The original photo of the jawbone had no scale so it was impossible to tell how big the fossil was Because of this Berger was surprised that it was much too small to be an Australopithecus an extinct
Scientists and paleontologists above ground guided the work of the scientists excavating Rising Star Cave below ground
human ancestor that lived from two to four million years ago It might have been from a previously unknown hominid group but the scientists would need to bring up more bones in order to tell Descending again and again for three weeks the scientists brought up bone after bone They were bringing up pieces of several skeletons The cave contained more fossils than anyone had seen in one place Removing them was hard work Normally fossils are encased in stone under layers of dirt In Rising Star Cave approximately 400 fossils lay on the surface and the scientists had to remove them without disturbing the fossils underneath Only after removing the first 400 fossils did they reach fossils partially buried The women swept the dirt away with small paintbrushes and removed all of the fossils in that layer before moving down to the next one They worked slowly But in 21 days they recovered more than 1 500 bones from as many as 18 individuals DARK ZONE SACRIFICE Holley Moyes a cave archaeologist at the University of California Merced studies ancient Mayan ruins throughout Belize Guatemala and Mexico These caves contain sacrifices of pottery tools and even people From 200 to 700 CE the Maya left sacrifices near the mouths of the caves From 700 to 900 CE a time of drought they sacrificed in the dark zone areas unlit by the sun Moyes thinks the Maya sacrificed in the dark zone because they believed that rain came from caves Darkzone sacrifices might lure the rain out of the depths of the caves Moyes continues to search Mayan caves for evidence to prove her theory What They Mean As the scientists doing the excavation and other researchers examined the fossils they realized they were looking at a combination of traits not previously seen The bones belonged to a new human ancestor Scientists determined
Sientists examine bone fragments found in Rising Star Cave the adults of this species stood less than five feet 1 5 m tall They walked much as people do today so their feet looked the same as modern feet Their rounded skulls meant they were human so the researchers named them Homo naledi Naledi means star in Sesotho a local South African language Because so many bones were found in one place Homo naledi may be important Rising Star Cave was not located at the bottom of a drop similar to other fossil rich caves so the hominids did not fall in by accident It was free of sediment sothe bones did not wash into the cave during a flood Although predators create bone deposits the Homo naledi remains show no tooth marks from a predator Predators deposits also contain bones from many animals everything the predators ate over time Except for a few mice and birds this deposit was made up exclusively of Homo naledi bones All of these factors mean Rising Star Cave may have been a burial spot
