How did the remains of many Homo naledi individuals come to lie in the dark chambers of the Dinaledi Subsystem?
Most likely: living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystemAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
Where it stands
Four answers have been proposed. Living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystem. leads, with evidence 3 for, 1 against: partly supported by its tests. Three are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
This is the fact any account has to explain, and it was the question before burial was raised. The chambers hold almost nothing but H. naledi, with no carnivore damage and no sign of water transport[1]. Both the burial claim and its critics agree that how the hominins got in is the weak point; it is the reason one final reviewer still rated the evidence incomplete[2].
Answers 4
History
- Dirks et al. puts forward: living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystem.
- Dirks et al. puts forward: individuals entered the subsystem alive, for refuge or exploration, and died there, singly or in groups.
- Dirks et al.: no carnivore marks, no water-sorting and almost no other large fauna in the Dinaledi assemblage.For: Living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystem.
- Berger et al.: infants to old adults are present, from at least 15 individuals in the first excavation alone.For: Living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystem.
- Dirks et al.: the near-absence of other animals is hard to square with a natural trap open to the surface.Against: Bodies or bones reached the chambers through openings now closed, by falls, sediment movement or remains…
- Val puts forward: bodies or bones reached the chambers through openings now closed, by falls, sediment movement or remains…
- Egeland et al.: skeletal-part profile resembles bodies that decayed in the open or in caves rather than buried ones.Against: Living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystem.
- Elliott et al.: remains also occur in a second chamber (Lesedi) and in remote passages of the subsystem.For: Living H. naledi carried or dragged their dead into the subsystem.
- Robbins et al.: the flowstone chronology shows passages in the system opened and closed over time; a Postbox opening would…For: Bodies or bones reached the chambers through openings now closed, by falls, sediment movement or remains…
- Berger et al.: the team argues the age profile and repeated deposition favour carrying of the dead over accidental death.Against: Individuals entered the subsystem alive, for refuge or exploration, and died there, singly or in groups.
- Berger et al.: material at the base of the Chute in the Hill Antechamber fits individuals coming down the fissure.For: Individuals entered the subsystem alive, for refuge or exploration, and died there, singly or in groups.
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