Lee Berger: Paleoanthropologist ‘rewriting’ human evolutionary history

[Lee Berger] is the palaeoanthropologist behind the recent discoveries of not one but two new species of human ancestor. The finds were so remarkable that, by some accounts, they are rewriting the story of human evolution, and Berger, his team and his methods are at the centre of it.

In 2010, Berger made headlines after he (or, more accurately, his then 9-year-old son) found a trove of hominin bones belonging to what we now know as Australopithecus sediba in the hills north of Johannesburg, South Africa. […] He was convinced that even greater discoveries were waiting, particularly in the ancient caves that riddle the limestone-rich countryside.

He […] hit the jackpot in 2013: two chambers deep inside the Rising Star cave system contained hundreds of bones from another unknown species, which his team dubbed Homo naledi.

…

So far, his team has found the remains of at least 18 H. naledi skeletons, of all ages. It’s a huge hoard, particularly because many hominin species exist only as a handful of bones. “There was a real perception that these fossils are rare,” he says – and those who found them became reluctant to share access to such precious objects. “I’ve watched scientists become possessive,” he says. “I vowed early on not to do that if my opportunity arose.”

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: The fossil finder extraordinaire who’s rewriting human evolution