Last month some spelunkers in South Africa discovered a deep-cave hominin fossil deposit that is now being excavated by Lee Berger’s team. This is a major field expedition that is well-financed and digitally wired. The whole thing is being live-blogged, broadcast, and tweeted by National Geographic and various team members, including John Hawks.
As I write this, over 200 fossils of an unknown hominin species have been recovered and a cranium is now being brought to the surface. This should allow for a species identification in the next hour or so. An archaeologist-excavator describes the site as a “heap of hominins.” I’m guessing they have found Australopithecus africanus, sediba, or robustus, but it could be a new species.
This is exciting and unprecedented stuff unfolding in real time. I encourage everyone to follow the action taking place in the Cradle of Humankind at these links:
National Geographic Rising Star Expedition
Twitter #risingstarexpedition