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Anthropology

<OpenstaxH3><OpenstaxEm>Homo naledi</OpenstaxEm>: A Rising Star</OpenstaxH3>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The most recently described archaic <OpenstaxEm>Homo</OpenstaxEm> is known as <OpenstaxTerm><OpenstaxEm>Homo naledi</OpenstaxEm></OpenstaxTerm>. They were found in the <OpenstaxTerm>Rising Star cave system</OpenstaxTerm> in South Africa in 2013 and 2014 (Figures 5.14–5.15) and are dated to approximately 235,000–335,000 years old. Over 1,500 bones from as many as 15 individuals were recovered from the cave, which is possibly the largest assemblage of a single hominin species yet discovered. Despite their relatively recent date, they have exceptionally small cranial capacities, comparable to the robust and gracile australopithecines, which are around 560 cc. The encephalization quotient of <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> is estimated at 4.5, which is the same as <OpenstaxEm>H. floresiensis</OpenstaxEm> but notably smaller than all other <OpenstaxEm>Homo</OpenstaxEm> (contemporary <OpenstaxEm>Homo</OpenstaxEm> are all above 6). The presence of this small-brained hominin at the same time that Neanderthals and <OpenstaxEm>Homo heidelbergensis</OpenstaxEm> were around is further evidence that multiple hominin lineages were coexisting and evolving at the same time. The classification of <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> proved to be a challenge, as the specimens presented a mosaic of traits and characteristics associated with an array of other hominin species.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00003" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/1dd5acd880473948a4a3c0ff6496f9f2669e5ff2" alt="The site is shown to be located in an interior region of what is now the country of South Africa." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="1000" height="687" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1000">
	Figure 5.14 Maps showing the location of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa, where Homo naledi fossils were found in the Rising Star cave system. (credit: Hawks et al. (2017), eLife, CC BY 4.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00004" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/ba07e56caaced278d9eaf35e332b5cd4ff3e6cc4" alt="Sketch of a cave, showing multiple geological features protruding from the ceiling and walls. The “excavation area” is on the floor of the cave, near a feature labelled “drain.”" mediaType="image/jpeg" width="1200" height="592" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1200">
	Figure 5.15 The Rising Star cave system, showing geological features and the location of the excavation area where numerous Homo naledi specimens have been found. (credit: Paul H. G. M. Dirks et al. (2015), eLife/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00005" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/025bada2a03268676b47e3444f1801dcf4a7f6f4" alt="Front, side, and top views of skulls." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="713" height="800" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="713">
	Figure 5.16 H. naledi skulls. It is apparent in these images that this species had rather pronounced prognathism (Credit: John Hawks, Marina Elliott, Peter Schmid et al. (2017), eLife/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00006" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/34f4a1e7e16a4d67c9662cba0306c51054230d2c" alt="Side and top views of foot bones." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="800" height="532" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="800">
	Figure 5.17 H. naledi feet were much like those of modern humans. (credit: W. E. H. Harcourt-Smith, Z. Throckmorton, K. A. Congdon, B. Zipfel, A. S. Deane, M. S. M. Drapeau, S. E. Churchill, L. R. Berger &amp; J. M. DeSilva (2015)/Nature Communications/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00007" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/b0581920ed5c873e051da39e42870efff7014dc9" alt="Left and right hand bones." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="800" height="518" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="800">
	Figure 5.18 The hands of H. naledi display curved finger bones and large thumbs, indicating that it still had an adaptation for climbing trees. (credit: Lee R. Berger et al. (2015), eLife/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00008" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/e186dbce87c0c4af47ea46a994d7e352bccbd984" alt="Four different skulls, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, and Homo naledi. Homo habilis is labelled with the following features: relatively high and thin skull; small brain volume; rounded occipital, no transverse torus; and large teeth, molars increase towards back. Homo erectus is labelled with the following features: relatively low and thick skull; small-medium brain volume; flexed occipital, transverse torus; large teeth, molar gradient varies. Homo floresiensis is labelled with the following features: relatively low and thick skull; small brain volume; flexed occipital, transverse torus; small teeth, molars decrease towards back. Homo naledi is labelled with the following features: relatively high and thin skull, small brain volume; flexed occipital, transverse torus; small teeth, molars increase towards back." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="1200" height="601" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1200">
	Figure 5.19 Comparison of some of the most commonly known Homo species (credit: Chris Stringer, Natural History Museum, United Kingdom (2015), eLife/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxH3><OpenstaxEm>Homo naledi</OpenstaxEm>: Did They Bury Their Dead?</OpenstaxH3>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxEm>Homo naledi</OpenstaxEm> has not yet been found in association with any stone tools. Despite a lack of established tool use, there is fairly convincing evidence that <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> may have used the cave system as a place to bury their dead. The hypothesis that <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> had a ritualistic mortuary practice is based on several observations, such as the bones appearing to lack evidence of gnawing marks from predators and the lack of evidence of layers of sediment that would suggest the bones were deposited by flooding (Dirks et al. 2015). In 2017 additional fossil remains were found in a second chamber in the Rising Star cave system (Hawks et al. 2017), but these remains don’t as yet appear to offer additional evidence to support the hypothesis of an intentional burial.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Some scientists believe that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> were involved in funerary ritual practices. They have noted that the preservation of <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> specimens are similar to that of cave-dwelling baboons that have died natural deaths. At <OpenstaxTerm>Sima de los Huesos</OpenstaxTerm>, remains of about 28 Neanderthal and <OpenstaxEm>H. heidelbergensis</OpenstaxEm> fossils were found in a cave dated to about 430,000 years ago. Researchers who examined the scattering patterns of the remains at both the Rising Star cave system in Africa and the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain (Egeland et al. 2018) concluded that the sites showed evidence of having been scavenged but that this doesn’t disprove the possibility that they may also be deliberate burials. The verdict is still out on this. Lee <OpenstaxTerm>Berger</OpenstaxTerm> and other scientists are conducting further investigations of the <OpenstaxEm>H. naledi</OpenstaxEm> skeletal deposits to further explore the possibility they might be evidence of something more deliberate than the actions of predators.
</OpenstaxParagraph>

5.3.3 Late Archaic Homo

1 What Is Anthropology?

1.1 The Study of Humanity, or "Anthropology Is Vast"

1.1.1 The Heart of Anthropology: Central Narrative and Commitments

1.1.2 Central Commitment #1: Exploring Sociocultural Diversity

1.1.3 Central Commitment #2: Understanding How Societies Hold Together

1.1.4 Central Commitment #3: Examining the Interdependence of Humans and Nature

1.2 The Four-Field Approach: Four Approaches within the Guiding Narrative

1.2.1 Biological Anthropology

1.2.2 Archaeology

1.2.3 Cultural Anthropology

1.2.4 Linguistic Anthropology

1.2.5 How the Four Fields Work Together: The Example of Race

1.3 Overcoming Ethnocentrism

1.3.1 Enculturation and Ethnocentrism

1.3.2 Primitivism and Orientalism

1.4 Western Bias in Our Assumptions about Humanity

1.4.1 Primitivism and Orientalism in Popular Culture

1.4.2 The Bias of Backwardness

1.5 Holism, Anthropology’s Distinctive Approach

1.5.1 Society as an Integrated Whole

1.5.2 Sources of Contradiction, Conflict, and Change

1.6 Cross-Cultural Comparison and Cultural Relativism

1.6.1 Relativism Is Not “Anything Goes”

1.6.2 Morality, Activism, and Cultural Relativism

1.7 Reaching for an Insider’s Point of View

1.7.1 The Challenge of Representing Others

1.7.2 Collaborative Methods of Representation

1.7.3 Working across Cultures toward Common Goals

1.7.4 Suggested Readings

2 Methods: Cultural and Archaeological

2.1 Archaeological Research Methods

2.1.1 Archaeological Techniques

2.1.2 Archaeological Dating Methods

2.2 Conservation and Naturalism

2.2.1 Early Efforts

2.2.2 Salvage Anthropology

2.2.3 Museum Collections

2.2.4 Interpretation and Voice

2.3 Ethnography and Ethnology

2.3.1 The Development of Ethnography and Ethnology

2.3.2 Perspective and Interpretation in Ethnography

2.4 Participant Observation and Interviewing

2.4.1 Participant Observation

2.4.2 Interviewing Informants

2.4.3 Ethical Considerations

2.5 Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

2.5.1 Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Information

2.5.2 Modeling

2.5.3 The Science of Anthropology

2.6 Collections

2.6.1 Archives

2.6.2 Three-Dimensional Collections

2.6.3 Ownership

2.6.4 Suggested Readings

3 Culture Concept Theory: Theories of Cultural Change

3.1 The Homeyness of Culture

3.2 The Winkiness of Culture

3.3 The Elements of Culture

3.3.1 Culture Is What We Make

3.3.2 Culture Is What We Do

3.3.3 Culture Is What We Think

3.4 The Aggregates of Culture

3.4.1 Symbols

3.4.2 Ritual

3.4.3 Social Structure

3.5 Modes of Cultural Analysis

3.5.1 Evolution, Adaptation, and Historical Particularism

3.5.2 Functionalism

3.5.3 Structuralism

3.5.4 Ontology

3.6 The Paradoxes of Culture

3.6.1 Paradox 1: Culture Is Continuous, but It Changes

3.6.2 Paradox 2: Culture Is Bounded but Mobile

3.6.3 Paradox 3: Culture Is Consensual but Contested

3.6.4 Paradox 4: Culture Is Shared, but It Varies

3.6.5 Suggested Readings

4 Biological Evolution and Early Human Evidence

4.1 What Is Biological Anthropology?

4.1.1 Looking to the Deep Past

4.1.2 Exploring What It Means to Be Human

4.2 What’s in a Name? The Science of Taxonomy

4.2.1 Defining the Science of Taxonomy

4.2.2 Defining a Species

4.3 It’s All in the Genes! The Foundation of Evolution

4.3.1 The Units of Life

4.3.2 Gregor Mendel and the Laws of Heredity

4.3.3 Mendelian Inheritance in Humans

4.4 Evolution in Action: Past and Present

4.4.1 Early Evolutionists and the Fixity of Species

4.4.2 Charles Darwin’s Role in Changing Views of the Natural World

4.4.3 Understanding Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection

4.5 What Is a Primate?

4.5.1 What Is a Primate?

4.5.2 Primate Behavioral Variation

4.5.3 Explaining Primate Success

4.5.4 Primate Classification and Taxonomy

4.6 Origin of and Classification of Primates

4.6.1 Understanding Concepts of Time

4.6.2 Fossils and Dating Methods