By le thi huyen 
In 2013, scientists made a shocking discovery in the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa: They found the fossils of Homo Naledi, a species of Homo that lived between 241,000 and 335,000 years ago. But what made the discovery so surprising was not just its age, but also the signs that Homo Naledi may have buried their dead—a behavior previously thought to be the preserve of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
While studying the cave system, archaeologists discovered the remains were carefully arranged in the fetal position, lying in rocky cavities, rather than being swept into them by the elements. This suggests that Homo Naledi may have practiced burial rituals—and what’s even more astonishing is that these graves date back at least 100,000 years before any known modern human graves!
If confirmed, it could completely change our understanding of the development of abstract thought and spiritual consciousness throughout human history.
Beyond burial rituals, scientists have also found carvings on the cave walls that may date back as far as 335,000 years. These patterns bear many similarities to the rock art of Neanderthals and modern humans.
This raises a big question: Did Homo Naledi possess a form of symbolic language? If so, this could push back the emergence of abstract thought and art by hundreds of thousands of years than previously assumed.
Despite having a much smaller skull than Homo sapiens, Homo Naledi still displayed remarkable cognitive and behavioral traits. The burial of the dead and the ability to create symbols may prove that modern humans were not alone in their awareness of death and the ability to think abstractly.
This discovery raises many big questions:
Did Homo Naledi communicate using language?
Did they truly understand the concept of death?
Did the foundations of culture and spirituality appear earlier than we think?
Scientists are still exploring the answer, but one thing is certain: Homo Naledi is rewriting human history in ways no one expected!
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