This National Geographic article describes how Homo naledi was found, why it is significant, and how its bone structure reflects both primitive and modern traits.
The picture of mankind's evolution, while still murky, continues to grow more complete. This is the second major find in the past twelve years, after the discovery of Homo floriensis on the Indonesian island of Flores.
Personally, I find this stuff fascinating, not least because it tells us who we are, where we came from, and how we differ from each other.
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And in spite of enthusiastically embracing the idea of an evolutionary origin of mankind, many of a certain philosophical bent will continue to insist that "race is a social construct" without being conscious of the conflict.
Luke --
You are exactly right. i wrote about that conflict here:
http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2013/01/evolution-part-ii.html
Look at this:
http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/I-am-no-grandchild-of-any-ape-monkey-or-baboon-Vavi-on-Homo-naledi-20150914-2
http://phys.org/news/2015-09-south-africa-human-ancestor-racial.html
If you live in the late great South Africa, this will not surprise you.
-Abraham
Abraham --
That second article is actually quite funny. And what's particularly ironic is that they don't realize that their conclusion in itself is "racist," believing that only black people are somehow tarnished by this association with an early human ancestor.
I remember when Thabos Mbeki, the former President of South Africa, said that AIDS is not caused by sex. The PRESIDENT, theoretically one of the smartest people in the country.
These types of rejection of science come from a very primitive, superstitious way of thinking.
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