Courtesy: AFP
The burial site contains remains of a small-brained distant relative of human beings previously thought incapable of complex behaviour. The team of Palaeontologists, led by Lee Berger, said they discovered several specimens of Homo naledi.
Homo naledi is a primitive species at the crossroads of apes and modern humans. The species had brains about the size of oranges and stood about five feet tall. It was buried about 100 feet underground in a cave system within the Cradle of Humankind, which is a UNESCO world heritage site near Johannesburg.
The findings in the Cradle of Humankind challenge the current understanding of human evolution. Researchers said the species of Homo naledi discovered are the "most ancient interments yet recorded in the hominin record, earlier than evidence of Homo sapiens interments by at least 100,000 years."
The oldest burials previously unearthed, found in the Middle East and Africa, contained the remains of Homo sapiens -- and were around 100,000 years old.