Underworld discovery casts doubt on our understanding of human evolution

Peer reviews are skeptical:<p>“imprudent and incomplete”<p>“These claims are inadequate, incomplete and are largely assumption-based – rather than evidence-based”<p>“do not present convincing evidence”<p>“I have no issue with the idea that non-Homo sapiens species disposed of their dead, but I do have an expectation that there is robust scientific evidence to support such statements before scientists go on massive media campaigns regarding these ideas”<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2023&#x2F;jul&#x2F;22&#x2F;small-brained-early-humans-homo-naledi-cleverer-storm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2023&#x2F;jul&#x2F;22&#x2F;small-braine...</a>

That&#x27;s an awful lot of speculation (more like projection) about what someone believed or thought 300k years ago.<p>And why &quot;scientists&quot; and not &quot;archeologists&quot;?

Not being an anthropologist I picked up on the article repeatedly saying <i>homo naledi</i> wasn&#x27;t a direct descendent of ours and had a brain half the size of a modern chimp - which leads me to wonder are we missing the funerary behaviors of the Great Apes? Do we really know the other Great Apes as well as we think we do? If we do, then why did their funerary behavior evolve to be so different?

Watch &quot;unknown: cave of bones&quot; on netflix. The first bones were found more than a decade ago and this documentary is based on a recent expedition there. The cave itself has an interesting story.<p>You can judge for yourself the evidence and how it is presented.

&#x27;Did an extinct ‘small-brained ape-man’ species develop a sophisticated culture millennia before we did?&#x27;