|
29 | 29 |
|
30 | 30 | <jats:body>
|
31 | 31 |
|
32 |
| - <jats:p>Fossil hominins were first recognized in the Dinaledi Chamber in the Rising Star cave system in |
33 |
| - October 2013. During a relatively short excavation, our team recovered an extensive collection of |
34 |
| - 1550 hominin specimens, representing nearly every element of the skeleton multiple times (Figure 1), |
35 |
| - including many complete elements and morphologically informative fragments, some in articulation, as |
36 |
| - well as smaller fragments many of which could be refit into more complete elements. The collection is |
37 |
| - a morphologically homogeneous sample that can be attributed to no previously-known hominin species. |
38 |
| - Here we describe this new species, <jats:italic>Homo naledi</jats:italic>. We have not defined |
39 |
| - <jats:italic>H. naledi</jats:italic> narrowly based on a single jaw or skull because the entire body |
40 |
| - of material has informed our understanding of its biology. |
41 |
| - </jats:p> |
42 |
| - |
43 |
| - <jats:p>Order Primates LINNAEUS 1758</jats:p> |
44 |
| - |
45 |
| - <jats:p>Suborder Anthropoidea MIVART 1864</jats:p> |
46 |
| - |
47 |
| - <jats:p>Superfamily Hominoidea GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
48 |
| - |
49 |
| - <jats:p>Family Hominidae GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
50 |
| - |
51 |
| - <jats:p>Tribe Hominini GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
52 |
| - |
53 |
| - <jats:p>Genus <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> LINNAEUS 1758</jats:p> |
54 |
| - |
55 |
| - <jats:p><jats:italic>Homo naledi</jats:italic> sp. nov. |
56 |
| - urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:00D1E81A-6E08-4A01-BD98-79A2CEAE2411 |
57 |
| - </jats:p> |
58 |
| - |
59 |
| - <jats:p>The word <jats:italic>naledi</jats:italic> means ‘star’ in the Sotho language and refers to the |
60 |
| - Dinaledi Chamber's location within the Rising Star cave system. |
61 |
| - </jats:p> |
62 |
| - |
63 |
| - <jats:p>The Dinaledi chamber is located approximately 30 meters underground, within the Rising Star cave |
64 |
| - system at about 26°1′13′′ S; 27°42′43′′ E. The system lies within the Malmani dolomites, approximately |
65 |
| - 800 meters southwest of the well-known site of Swartkrans in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage |
66 |
| - Site, Gauteng Province, South Africa. |
67 |
| - </jats:p> |
68 |
| - |
69 |
| - <jats:p>The present sample of skeletal material from the Dinaledi Chamber was recovered during two field |
70 |
| - expeditions, in November 2013 and March 2014. |
71 |
| - </jats:p> |
72 |
| - |
73 |
| - <jats:p>Six specimens from an ex situ context can be identified as bird bones, and few fragmentary rodent |
74 |
| - remains have been recovered within the excavation area. Neither of these faunal constituents can |
75 |
| - presently be associated with the hominin fossil collection (Dirks et al., 2015). |
76 |
| - </jats:p> |
77 |
| - |
78 |
| - <jats:p>Aside from these limited faunal materials, the Dinaledi collection is entirely composed of hominin |
79 |
| - skeletal and dental remains. The collection so far comprises 1550 fossil hominin specimens, this number |
80 |
| - includes 1413 bone specimens and 137 isolated dental specimens; an additional 53 teeth are present in |
81 |
| - mandibular or maxillary bone specimens. Aside from the fragmentary rodent teeth, all dental crowns (n = |
82 |
| - 179) are hominin, recovered both from surface collection and excavation. Likewise, aside from the few |
83 |
| - bird elements, all morphologically informative bone specimens are clearly hominin. In all cases where |
84 |
| - elements are repeated in the sample, they are morphologically homogeneous, with variation consistent |
85 |
| - with body size and sex differences within a single population. These remains represent a minimum of 15 |
86 |
| - hominin individuals, as indicated by the repetition and presence of deciduous and adult dental elements. |
87 |
| - </jats:p> |
88 |
| - |
89 |
| - <jats:p>The geological age of the fossils is not yet known. Excavations have thus far recovered hominin |
90 |
| - material from Unit 2 and Unit 3 in the chamber (Dirks et al., 2015). Surface-collected hominin material |
91 |
| - from the present top of Unit 3, which includes material derived from both Unit 2 and Unit 3, represents |
92 |
| - a minority of the assemblage, and is morphologically indistinguishable from material excavated from in |
93 |
| - situ within Unit 3. In addition to general morphological homogeneity including cranial shape, |
94 |
| - distinctive morphological configurations of all the recovered first metacarpals, femora, molars, lower |
95 |
| - premolars and lower canines, are identical in both surface-collected and excavated specimens (see Figure |
96 |
| - 14 later in the text). These include traits not found in any other hominin species yet described. These |
97 |
| - considerations strongly indicate that this material represents a single species, and not a commingled |
98 |
| - assemblage. |
99 |
| - </jats:p> |
| 32 | + <jats:sec> |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | + <jats:title>Introduction</jats:title> |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | + <jats:p>Fossil hominins were first recognized in the Dinaledi Chamber in the Rising Star cave system in |
| 37 | + October 2013. During a relatively short excavation, our team recovered an extensive collection of |
| 38 | + 1550 hominin specimens, representing nearly every element of the skeleton multiple times (Figure |
| 39 | + 1), including many complete elements and morphologically informative fragments, some in |
| 40 | + articulation, as well as smaller fragments many of which could be refit into more complete |
| 41 | + elements. The collection is a morphologically homogeneous sample that can be attributed to no |
| 42 | + previously-known hominin species. Here we describe this new species, <jats:italic>Homo |
| 43 | + naledi</jats:italic>. We have not defined <jats:italic>H. naledi</jats:italic> narrowly based on a |
| 44 | + single jaw or skull because the entire body of material has informed our understanding of its |
| 45 | + biology. |
| 46 | + </jats:p> |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | + <jats:p>Order Primates LINNAEUS 1758</jats:p> |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | + <jats:p>Suborder Anthropoidea MIVART 1864</jats:p> |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | + <jats:p>Superfamily Hominoidea GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | + <jats:p>Family Hominidae GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | + <jats:p>Tribe Hominini GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | + <jats:p>Genus <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> LINNAEUS 1758</jats:p> |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | + <jats:p><jats:italic>Homo naledi</jats:italic> sp. nov. |
| 61 | + urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:00D1E81A-6E08-4A01-BD98-79A2CEAE2411 |
| 62 | + </jats:p> |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | + <jats:sec> |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | + <jats:title>Etymology</jats:title> |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | + <jats:p>The word <jats:italic>naledi</jats:italic> means ‘star’ in the Sotho language and refers to |
| 69 | + the Dinaledi Chamber's location within the Rising Star cave system. |
| 70 | + </jats:p> |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | + </jats:sec> |
| 73 | + |
| 74 | + <jats:sec> |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | + <jats:title>Locality</jats:title> |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | + <jats:p>The Dinaledi chamber is located approximately 30 meters underground, within the Rising Star |
| 79 | + cave system at about 26°1′13′′ S; 27°42′43′′ E. The system lies within the Malmani dolomites, |
| 80 | + approximately 800 meters southwest of the well-known site of Swartkrans in the Cradle of |
| 81 | + Humankind World Heritage Site, Gauteng Province, South Africa. |
| 82 | + </jats:p> |
| 83 | + |
| 84 | + </jats:sec> |
| 85 | + |
| 86 | + <jats:sec> |
| 87 | + |
| 88 | + <jats:title>Horizon and associations</jats:title> |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | + <jats:p>The present sample of skeletal material from the Dinaledi Chamber was recovered during two |
| 91 | + field expeditions, in November 2013 and March 2014. |
| 92 | + </jats:p> |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | + <jats:p>Six specimens from an ex situ context can be identified as bird bones, and few fragmentary |
| 95 | + rodent remains have been recovered within the excavation area. Neither of these faunal |
| 96 | + constituents can presently be associated with the hominin fossil collection (Dirks et al., |
| 97 | + 2015). |
| 98 | + </jats:p> |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | + <jats:p>Aside from these limited faunal materials, the Dinaledi collection is entirely composed of |
| 101 | + hominin skeletal and dental remains. The collection so far comprises 1550 fossil hominin |
| 102 | + specimens, this number includes 1413 bone specimens and 137 isolated dental specimens; an |
| 103 | + additional 53 teeth are present in mandibular or maxillary bone specimens. Aside from the |
| 104 | + fragmentary rodent teeth, all dental crowns (n = 179) are hominin, recovered both from surface |
| 105 | + collection and excavation. Likewise, aside from the few bird elements, all morphologically |
| 106 | + informative bone specimens are clearly hominin. In all cases where elements are repeated in the |
| 107 | + sample, they are morphologically homogeneous, with variation consistent with body size and sex |
| 108 | + differences within a single population. These remains represent a minimum of 15 hominin |
| 109 | + individuals, as indicated by the repetition and presence of deciduous and adult dental |
| 110 | + elements. |
| 111 | + </jats:p> |
| 112 | + |
| 113 | + <jats:p>The geological age of the fossils is not yet known. Excavations have thus far recovered |
| 114 | + hominin material from Unit 2 and Unit 3 in the chamber (Dirks et al., 2015). Surface-collected |
| 115 | + hominin material from the present top of Unit 3, which includes material derived from both Unit |
| 116 | + 2 and Unit 3, represents a minority of the assemblage, and is morphologically indistinguishable |
| 117 | + from material excavated from in situ within Unit 3. In addition to general morphological |
| 118 | + homogeneity including cranial shape, distinctive morphological configurations of all the |
| 119 | + recovered first metacarpals, femora, molars, lower premolars and lower canines, are identical |
| 120 | + in both surface-collected and excavated specimens (see Figure 14 later in the text). These |
| 121 | + include traits not found in any other hominin species yet described. These considerations |
| 122 | + strongly indicate that this material represents a single species, and not a commingled |
| 123 | + assemblage. |
| 124 | + </jats:p> |
| 125 | + |
| 126 | + </jats:sec> |
| 127 | + |
| 128 | + </jats:sec> |
100 | 129 |
|
101 | 130 | </jats:body>
|
102 | 131 |
|
|
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