# Fuentes 2025: Meaning-making behavior in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications

> Agustín Fuentes, Marc Kissel, Penny Spikins et al., 2025. 3 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Context for why the claim matters.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D38WX5R718G/meaning-making-behavior-in-a-small-brained-hominin-homo  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials)Fuentes 2025

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# Meaning-making behavior in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications

Agustín Fuentes, Marc Kissel, Penny Spikins et al., 2025. _eLife 12: RP89125_.

A discussion paper on what burial, engraving and fire use would imply about cognition in a hominin with a brain a third the size of ours. eLife rates it "valuable" and "solid" only if the two empirical papers hold.

**Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims** Articledoi: **[10.7554/eLife.89125](https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.89125)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

Context for why the claim matters.

## The document 38 pages

[Pages][Text]Page 1 of 38

[![Page 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p1)1][![Page 2](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p2)2][![Page 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p3)3][![Page 4](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p4)4][![Page 5](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p5)5][![Page 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p6)6][![Page 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p7)7][![Page 8](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p8)8][![Page 9](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p9)9][![Page 10](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p10)10][![Page 11](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p11)11][![Page 12](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p12)12]

![Page 1 of Meaning-making behavior in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f/p1)

The first 12 pages are shown; the rest are in the file. Text taken from the file. Check it against the page.

## Cited by on this site 3 records

[Agustín Fuentes](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials/people/FIG0D38X3RP7D2Y/agustin-fuentes)

FIG

[Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials)

The mystery article

MYS

[Did Homo naledi make the cross-hatched marks on the walls of the Hill Antechamber?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-naledi-burials/questions/QST0D38X85A4VBA/did-homo-naledi-make-the-cross-hatched-marks-on-the-walls-of)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Fuentes, A., Kissel, M., Spikins, P., Molopyane, K., Hawks, J., & Berger, L. R. (2025). Meaning-making behavior in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications. eLife 12: RP89125. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.89125
```

[Read it free at elifesciences.org](https://elifesciences.org/articles/89125)[Download PDF · 2.3 MB](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/d/6b371fab0fcf5d26d0ce6ef6dd04139087bfd8451a90eaae156669bfef15e98f)

Anyone can read it here; members can download it.

Key

**SRC** 0D38WX5R718G

Kind

Journal article

Rights

CC-BY-4.0

Kept

27 Oct 2026

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

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