An initial report of circa 241,000- to 335,000-year-old rock engravings and their relation to Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa

Lee R Berger, John Hawks, Agustín Fuentes et al., 2025. eLife 12: RP89102 (version of record, 22 July 2025).

Describes cross-hatched and geometric markings on the dolomite of the Hill Antechamber and proposes that Homo naledi made them. eLife's assessment calls the work "important" but "incomplete": anthropogenic origin, age and authorship of the marks all need further work.

Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claimsArticleCopy of Hill Antechamber wall markingsdoi: 10.7554/eLife.89102Checked against the original0

What it's used for here

The companion claim; used only where it bears on the burial argument.

The document 27 pages

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Cited by on this site 7 records

H. naledi engraved the marks.

Answer

ANS

Hill Antechamber wall markings

ART

Hill Antechamber wall markings: document

CPY

The marks have not been dated and their anthropogenic origin is not shown.

Evidence

EVD

The marks sit in the chamber with H. naledi remains and no other hominin is known there.

Evidence

EVD

Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims

The mystery article

MYS

Did Homo naledi make the cross-hatched marks on the walls of the Hill Antechamber?

Question

QST

Cite it

Berger, L. R., Hawks, J., Fuentes, A., Van Rooyen, D., Tsikoane, M., Mpete, M., Nkwe, S., & Molopyane, K. (2025). An initial report of circa 241,000- to 335,000-year-old rock engravings and their relation to Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. eLife 12: RP89102 (version of record, 22 July 2025). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.89102

@article{berger2025engravings,
  author = {Berger, Lee R and Hawks, John and Fuentes, Agustín and Van Rooyen, Dirk and Tsikoane, Mathabela and Mpete, Maropeng and Nkwe, Samuel and Molopyane, Keneiloe},
  title = {An initial report of circa 241,000- to 335,000-year-old rock engravings and their relation to Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa},
  journal = {eLife 12: RP89102 (version of record, 22 July 2025)},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.7554/eLife.89102},
  url = {https://elifesciences.org/articles/89102}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - An initial report of circa 241,000- to 335,000-year-old rock engravings and their relation to Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa
AU  - Berger, Lee R
AU  - Hawks, John
AU  - Fuentes, Agustín
AU  - Van Rooyen, Dirk
AU  - Tsikoane, Mathabela
AU  - Mpete, Maropeng
AU  - Nkwe, Samuel
AU  - Molopyane, Keneiloe
PY  - 2025
JO  - eLife 12: RP89102 (version of record, 22 July 2025)
DO  - 10.7554/eLife.89102
UR  - https://elifesciences.org/articles/89102
ER  -

Berger, Lee R et al.. “An initial report of circa 241,000- to 335,000-year-old rock engravings and their relation to Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa.” eLife 12: RP89102 (version of record, 22 July 2025) (2025). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.89102.