This may be one of the most excellent scientific presentations I have heard. What an amazing speaker Mr. Hawks is. I appreciate all the diligence given to recording and showing progress in this discovery. Thank you!
A marvellous presentation, my thanks. A point of hopefully constructive criticism: When filming the presenter pointing at something PLEASE include the thing he's pointing at in the frame of the shot.
And complete hands, so no scavenging going on? How did they get there? This is a paleo- site, but it raises real anthropology questions: such as how far back do anthropologists need to be casting their net?
Everyone wonders how the Naledi navigated the cave without fire. When I was taking photography at ODU my teacher told us about visual purple. It takes 30 minutes of total darkness for the chemical to be manufactured and flood the eyes. It gives you a type of night vision. You can see in shades of purple and black. I think perhaps Naledi had a more heightened version of this. Over the semester as I developed more and more film in the dark what at first took 30 minutes took only 15 to be able to see.
They used fire. And they also cooked meat there. But Lee Burger say the caves are too clean for them to have lived there... So Homo Naledi took care to clean up after themselves... LOL unlike other species of homo. (Does that make this species not homo after all?)
Your anectodal explination still leaves me wondering how they did it. Would you care to vist the cave, wait 30 minutes at midnight and try to navigate your way to the Dinaldedi Chamber without lights and ropes? See what I mean?
@@kennyw871 Well I already know that I can't get to the Dinaldedi Chamber because I can't make that bottleneck passage. But if you want to buy me the plane ticket and get the clearance from the site manager I'll go and get as far in as I can. I have run full speed in the wood in the dark and not fallen. The sun is often so bright for me it hurts my tear ducts and makes me sneeze. Only an albino person would have better night vision than I have.
so this from 2017 and i’m just learning about it. when you’re interested in biology and psychology ( i’m including anthro and fossil bio, too), there is so much out there. glad YT put this in stuff i was interested in. 🌷🌱
There's a lot out there about Rising Star. The NatGeo was article is fascinating. The story of A sediba is amazing. Dr. Burger is cranking out as much info for us as possible. This is not normal! Most old school paleontologists closely guard their fossils and work for YEARS, without letting anybody near it . Its THEIRS! Dr. Burger gleefully sends out copies of the Rising Star fossils so all sorts of universities can offer them to their students. He sends samples out to all sorts of labs. It's a good thing.
Surprised me the hour felt like twenty minutes...just wow! And, was emotional hearing about all the school children viewing the fossils & speaking Naledi's name in their different dialects!
I am so claustrophobic that I am nauseated watching others do the crawl. I can hear the earth grinding rocks all around me. And the dark. . Thanks go to those who can do such work and bring the truth to light.
Mr. Hawks is a great communicator. I watch videos on human origins all the time. One of my favorite subjects! This dude picks out wonderful details which I want. (some others leave out critical details, and leave you behind.)
Since college I have been interested in anthropology and paleontology. Over the years there have been more immediate challenges that impacted my life. Family, work and life in general got in the way. Retired, I have the time to return to my interest in mankind.
I’m not sure if the presenter would ever see this but I’m a hospice nurse and I am driving right now in Horton and serendipitously found this lecture after watching Dragon Man. Fantastic lecture!! Thank you!!!
This is such a great presentation. He does such a fantastic job of giving an "Early Hominids for Dummies" talk so to speak, whilst still keeping it engaging for other more knowledgeable people and covering literally every aspect. I didn't leave with any unanswered questions, great stuff from Prof. Hawks, a pleasure to listen to.
I have followed John Hawks via YT for a number of years -. he has an excellent series of talks looking at techniques used in the lab, another series on location looking at events that occurred in those locations - cave systems in the Middle East where Neanderthals and Sapiens lived, either overlaying in time, sequentially inhabiting the same systems in stratified continuity or even perhaps contemporaneously and his overflowing joy admixed with his deep knowledge is truly magnificent. The deepest and near mystically reverent video is an overview of the development of humans growing knowledge of our own origins, the many strands of hominids, their relationships genetically and thru interbreeding, the breathtaking grandeur of thought and thinking, opening the doors to a fuller enlightenment and understanding of where we came from and thus who we are, all filmed as Dr Hawks walks through Charles Darwin's garden, peppered with stories of the understanding that came to the genius of "Origins" as he walked thru these very paths, plus observations and explanations of how "Origins" had steered Dr Hawks own path of Discovery. This man is a genius of thought, creative insights and a sublime communicator, able to enlighten us with dexterity and delight. Its late here in London, work already threatens with the dawn a mere 5 or so hours away, so I must defer this viewing till I am able to watch it with the attention it deserves. I will be waiting like a little kid "waits" for Christmas day, emitting barely controlled squeals of anticipation throughout the day until I can get home and settle myself down. I am not normally a squeal suppressing infant in the course of a normal day, I wonder how my colleagues will react to this? Hehehehe, it'll be great fun I suspect!!!
It's amazing how many gullible people believe in those respected looking charlatans..! They manufacture entire fossils and name them with intriguing labels and send over enthusiastic people to find and dig them out which they had secretly buried in those caves.. They are not scientists but charlatans called alchemists..They are after discovering a way to immortality in order to escape from the eternal Hell Fire with which they were all promised ..! But you go ahead and believe in their bs anyway..!
Probably one of the most interesting videos I've seen in years. Really nice to hear how all these things are dated too. When I was young, it was practically only guesswork.
On TH-cam, I wish you could use a pointer to show us what to look at when you are describing the visuals. By the time I read the visual, and find what you are describing, I've missed the verbal description and find I am falling behind. Perhaps a red light as a pointer.
This is so fascinating and it keeps on giving us new information. These cavers are so brave! I would be terrified of getting stuck! I am forever grateful that Lee Berger, John Hawks, National Geographic and their teams are sharing all they discover with the world.
This is so Brilliant ‼️ Incredible and really exciting ‼️ Please continue to give us updates as they come in from the team of scientists there in the Neledi Cave..I can't wait to hear more about their discoveries which will update their present discoveries ‼️😁 Thanks to both Wisconsin University, and PBS who I hope will go out of their way to continue to update us all in the latest discoveries of the Neledi people. Have a great day everyone ‼️😁😎🤠
@Lynne Dunn ... Yes, so true. We must be thankful to the scientists who share their finds and the knowledge they learn from them with the public. I am very eager to find out more, especially concerning the genetics. I wish China would share the discoveries made in their country as well. Too bad it's always politics blocking discoveries about our past.
Tom, fine intro. John Hawks - I see I wasn't the only one to notice what an awesome combination of human traits YOU presented to us. I don't think I can do you justice in less than 1000 words how much I appreciate you. I just hope your descendants et al appreciate you as much as I did here. All too many of your "peers" don't even come close enough to you to be able to fail by comparison. Not only did I learn more about our "ancestors" but I saw a man who I can only hope we can "evolve" into in our future.
And so it did (make for an interesting bath.) I should probably be grateful that I did not see the images of people in the "tight squeeze" situations on the caves. As a boy I went caving, but as an adult I could not stand the MRI machine I had to enter yesterday. Much respect and many thanks to the professionals who entered these caves to bring this news to humanity at large.
I grew up very near the caves and in the 80’s we would go into the entrance of the cave system into the main chamber not knowing we were so close to all these amazing discoveries.
Wow this is great work. Thank you so much for making this open access! I am so grateful for these tiny archeologists for the contortions they do daily to bring this research to the surface. It makes me want to travel back in time to see these humans possibly trading and interacting together.
A tiny bit of dishonesty on Dr. Hawks part: I have followed this story from the day that it hit the news. What I don't get is that he doesn't mention the fact that recent (within our lifetime) spelunking cavers had already been in the Dinaledi chamber before it was was "discovered" in 2013. According to the accounts (from Berger, et al and his critics) not only were some of the surface bone finds "trampled," i.e. recently broken by stepping upon them, giving the ends of the surface bone finds a bright-white coloration, but there were a survey markers ( ! ) (stakes, I assume) already placed in the ground around the chamber. Get me: this is the most spectacular paleoarchaeological find, perhaps ever. I read Berger and Hawks' book "Cave of Bones" in a single reading this week, but the implied impression is that this was the first time modern humans entered that space in a quarter-million years: a bit disingenuous. These guys are on the cutting edge of creating a new paradigm of thought in their field, much needed. I think that perhaps they need to address the possibility that the unknown recent cavers built fires, whatever. They should head this stuff off at the pass.
Outstanding presentation! Where can be find that 'open acces' views from the rising star cave? Congrats for the excellent work you are doing down there!
Hats off to the covers, im seriously freaked out watching them go through the squeezes, I photo graph white pointers etc outside of cages... but crawl through those spaces ..no way. Fantastic video , excellent
Here's a theory. Maybe this creature was nocturnal and spent the daytime hours hiding in the cave. With its ability for climbing, coupled with an ability to navigate in low light environments it was able to explore and navigate the depths of the cave. In summary, a creature spending a great deal of time in the cave, add to that climbing ability and being comfortable in dark environments due to their nocturnal nature. Suddenly finding individuals down there doesn't seem so unlikely. Add to this predentary pressure from cats or other humanoids that can pursue Naledi into the cave system. Then the remote depths of the cave become a natural refuge where predators couldn't or wouldn't follow. I'm not saying I believe this, but if outside-the-box thinking is invited, then give this some consideration?
To the Walrus, lots of cultures placed their dead in their homes under the floors opps long after this. I cant imagine dragging a body into a cave, its I'd work but protection from being eaten may well have been the motivation which is astonishing.
Prehistoric humans of all species and even other primates living outside of forests used caves as shelters, Home Naledi is not unique on that. Unless Naledi had some extremely rapid evolution of night vision, it wouldn't have much success hunting at night, because virtually every other animal has better night vision, and many big cats also prefer to hunt at night. More likely explanation is that they had some sort of primitive burial, hiding corpses in remote parts of the cave. As to their mixed archaic features, I think that's the whole point of presentation, evolution is not linear and homogenic.
It's inspiring watching smart, dedicated professionals work so hard to further scientific discovery. I had a panic attack just watching them squeeze through those tight cave passages.
@@conniestone6251 i had a full body scan once. i was put into a cylinder that was pretty roomy, maybe 3 feet in diameter, compared to those passages those small framed women squeezed through. i'm pretty stocky at 5'9'' and i was sedated. even sedated i almost lost it. i've been in dangerous situations before but that was almost too much.
Homo Niledi... totally fascinating, rich findings and exploration. This is the most rivetting presentation about ancient humans that I have ever watched. Thank-you John Hawkes, the whole exploration team and all supporting you.... What gifted presentation and enquiry. A glorious invitation to rich intrigue of profound importance also thank-you to every individual you are discovering. What incredible lives discovered here. This exploration and discovery is totally incredible obviously to many. I am a very untrained ignorant person way away in Australia but this presentation helps me to feel intelligent and informed which is such a good sign of good teaching and sharing of information. That you are endeavouring to bring this to public attention, the students and teachers and researchers of tomorrow with success and so much excellence is such a credit to you all. I have one dumb thought which is probably obviously obvious to many... Could these esteemed 'people' of the past have been placed or dropped somewhere higher up in the chamber then moved over time by earth movement (quakes) which compromised the chamber somewhat, inviting the bones to settle deeper? The mystery of how the bones got there, so articulated is such a welcome treasure for investigation. That these lives ended about 300,000 years ago, with such small brains and other indicators of life being so much 'older' and yet with such similarities to later hominem assemblages and characteristics is so so exciting. That so many of you are employing your skills and passion and sharing this with each other and the world is a joy to share and benefit from... THANK-YOU from Australia, where we have arguably some of the oldest continuing human culture on the planet in situ, still living and able to teach us about so much life which continues from 70,000 (give or take) in human terms with this land, waters and under the wide southern skies.
What they don't tell you is human skeletons and human artifacts have been found that predate this creature. Just another extinct primate like all the rest.
Total bullshit and if you believe that crap you are risking your eternal soul!!! God created us and everything just like the Bible says and if you did any research on the Bible you'd know that!!! Right now there's 100% proof that the Bible is God's word! Right now every Bible on earth has been supernaturally changed into something perverted!!! Isaiah 11 6 now says that the wolf will lay down with the lamb instead of the right scripture that says the lion will lay down with the lamb! There's been all kinds of evil changes to the scriptures. Amos 8 11 says that there will be a famine not for food or water but for God's word and we are in that famine now!!!! Amos 8 11 being fulfilled proves without a doubt that the Bible is God's word!!! I feel very sorry for all you gullible people that believe such bullshit as this!!! These damned evolutionist have faked over and over again missing links and I'm sure that this Bullshit is just another one of their lies and it's probably just a bunch of monkey bones like everything they have found before!!! They have never found one transitional fossil and that's because God created everything!!! The fossil record proves that everything appears instantly without transitions and fully formed!!! These damned bastards have lied and lied about everything! Look at all their so called missing links, everyone of them has been proven to be a bunch of bullshit that they put together to lie to everyone!!! If evillution actually happened there would be billions and billions of transitional fossils everywhere!!!! So where are they??? Where's the transitions between everything right now??? Look up the amazing discoveries of Ron Wyatt and check out the site, Truth Shock TV on TH-cam and see how every Bible on earth has been supernaturally changed!!! It's 100% proof of God!!! It figures that they would come up with some crap like this because right now we are in the end times and it's getting more and more like the days of Noah everyday!!! All you ignorant gullible people who believe these liars and don't believe in God will regret it for eternity!!!! Just Google proof of God and see all the evidence for our Lord!!!
Reminds me of astronomy, the deeper you look the more you see. Also great presentation very interesting. I hope I live long enough to hear the puzzle figured out.
The deeper we go into our past genetics, the more branches we find. The population of Hom on Earth is not discussed that much. I did hear a figure of several thousands during the Lake Toba era, where we nearly became extinct. The finer the data, the more we look like a broad pack of 'tribes' and we were very regional 'hunter gatherers'.
Fascinating. Is it possible that these Naledi went in as a group, got lost and could not get out? It would be easy to have happen since they probably didn't have any form of light to take with them, and groping around in the pitch blackness would have caused them to go to all corners in a panicked attempt to get out. Some may have died at the bottom of the chute as others fell in on top of them. All speculation, but perhaps a possibility? It's a horrific thing to think of a band of Naledi going into a cave for some unknown reason, getting lost in the dark, becoming trapped, some trying to find ways out, and eventually succumbing in the all engulfing darkness, but I really can't think of anything else which would account for it, unless somehow the morphology of that cave is highly plastic and it was much easier to get into in the distant past.
They have ruled out FLOWING water tp explain how naledi remains were distributed. But how about the RISE AND FALL OF GROUND WATER over the millennia? The bones were not mineralized, so they should be less dense than rock and sediment, meaning they could be slowly moved about by tiny currents in the cave system associated with the rise and fall of water in the local aquafer.
I got interested in this finding because a video of Ben G Thomas that the team let them film with them. This is so interesting and great. I hope your research continues and we learn a lot of things. I'm astonished by the enigma of "how did those skeletons get there?" The H. naledi had to see in the darkness right? How? Also I want to know more about the geology of the cave and why it isn't under water like many caves.
there was definitely water at certain times over the last two hundred and thirty thousand years going through that cave that's why they are as deep as they are when they found these bones which they would have been closer to the top of the ground when the cave first became a cave if that makes any sense so yeah the ground shifts in the water comes and goes and there you have it
I spent some time in Mozambique in January, 2003, trying to stay away until the States got a bit warmer. I travelled up the coast and, after a big storm, I found a flat rock on a beach with about seventy partial fossilized hominin footprints and one perfect complete footprint, size 3 1/2, the same as my wife. I took a photograph as best I could. It's not easy to photograph a fossilized footprint with a disposable camera. When I got back to the States I had copies made and mailed them to all the paleoanthropologists I could find listed in the library. Not one of them was slightly interested.
Fascinating. Understanding if they climbed down there or were thrown down the chute is a very interesting question and might tell us much about their way of understanding their world. Any tools of any sort?
It is utterly ludicrous to believe that arboreal creatures with brains the size of an orange, A. learned to control fire and B. would be brave enough and curious enough to crawl all the way through that cave, dragging their dead behind them. It is far more likely that, at one time, the cave was far more accessible than it is now, and that over the course of 100s of 1000s of years, the geology of the cave changed to what it is today. Of course, a lot of people are making a name off this, so they're looking for the most exotic explanation possible. I'm 100% sure that eventually there will be a far more prosaic explanation.
A scientist who smiles, who's no kid by a long-shot and goes from smiling to - as he so approoriately - positively giddy in a heart beat; what a wonderful person not just a teacher!
I would just like to comment on the passages. My experience with earth is it moves over time slowly. I am thinking the passages and chambers would have been more accommodating back then. My feeling the deep part of the cave was a religious place like a church. The very deep parts became a cemetery.
Thank you so much. It amazes me how every lecture on TH-cam it is impossible to see what the highlighter is pointing at! Seems like academia could solve this problem, but I guess not. It's like driving blind, no way of knowing what the speaker is referring to!
Just found this, what a wonderful informative video. What a wonderful discovery. Surely can not some form of crawling or miniaturised flying drone assist with the exploration in these situations?
In a cave with these tiny little apertures? Laser mapping has already helped create extremely useful detailed mapping/3 D modelling, from which other spaces maybe deduced/entrances discovered, entrances so small only some robotic crawling device may be the only option. Lets hope the tech improves enough that onboard logic can aid discovery while preserving the site - we dont want another Musk cave Submarine idiocy that E-Loon proposed for the Thai school boys trapped soccer team
@@Mark13091961 Yeah did, he called the leader of the rescuers a "pedo" because the man told Musk the sub wouldnt fir in the cave. Seems a tad sensitive does our billionaire
Very interesting but for some reason, I cannot see your laser pointer. I'm watching on TH-cam if it makes any difference. I wish that I could see it. Thanks, Ken
While for us there might only be a select few who can squeeze into these chambers let's not forget Naledi was a lot smaller than us and very slenderly built. Incredible as the implications are for Naledi culture, from a physical standpoint it's highly plausible for Naledi to be able to get into the cave. If we can get in with equipment Naledi could definitely get in with bodies in tow.
I think you should change the title of this and note it's from 2017. I started watching this thinking it must be some new discovery since the original discoveries that was again changing human origins. This title is misleading, and with a 5-18-22 date seems an update and it's not. Other than that Dr Berger, Dr. Hawks... and all are doing amazing work.
Lecture is 10/4/2017. Four years from the title date of May 18, 2022 , and a few months older as I view this in late Aug. 2022. Very interested in what has been discovered since.
First I wonder if the Naledi community were fleeing - fire comes to mind but I imagine would have left traces higher up in the vicinity of the main entrance. Also as a one time caver have an appreciation of the tight crawls. Takes strength. Physical and mental. Kudos to all. 1:02:42
Naledi, the most interesting human search to me! I appreciate the crew for the effort to bring all this to viewers. I'm also amazed of the maze and tight spaces the Naledi went through just to deposit the bodies. Could it be that during their time the entrances were more open? I mean even if the openings were closing at a rate of one eighth inch every thousand years, we would realize that back then, it was more open than now. It's a thought⚠️
I could probably look this up but, what was the original orientation of bones when found? Did they fall there, were they sacrificed there...what happened? What forensic evidence has been gleaned from the scene?
The bit abut having to be extra-thin at just the right points on your body really brings home how narrow some of those passages are! Fabulous work.
John Hawks' presentation is done to the minute detail - - including his awsome tie!
This may be one of the most excellent scientific presentations I have heard. What an amazing speaker Mr. Hawks is. I appreciate all the diligence given to recording and showing progress in this discovery. Thank you!
I enjoyed it when it was new.
As an experienced armchair explorer, I must say, this is nuts! My hat is off to you anthropologists and paleontologists. Your work is amazing.
uhok
A marvellous presentation, my thanks.
A point of hopefully constructive criticism:
When filming the presenter pointing at something PLEASE include the thing he's pointing at in the frame of the shot.
Your team and the methods you are using are heroic for the study of humanity
I was an anthro major at UWM in the early 60’s. This takes me back. Makes my heart and mind sing for joy.
And complete hands, so no scavenging going on?
How did they get there? This is a paleo- site, but it raises real anthropology questions: such as how far back do anthropologists need to be casting their net?
Everyone wonders how the Naledi navigated the cave without fire. When I was taking photography at ODU my teacher told us about visual purple. It takes 30 minutes of total darkness for the chemical to be manufactured and flood the eyes. It gives you a type of night vision. You can see in shades of purple and black. I think perhaps Naledi had a more heightened version of this. Over the semester as I developed more and more film in the dark what at first took 30 minutes took only 15 to be able to see.
They used fire. And they also cooked meat there. But Lee Burger say the caves are too clean for them to have lived there...
So Homo Naledi took care to clean up after themselves... LOL unlike other species of homo. (Does that make this species not homo after all?)
@@gubjorggisladottir3525 interesting. I never caught the part that they had fire.
And why? Maybe they got washed in.
Your anectodal explination still leaves me wondering how they did it. Would you care to vist the cave, wait 30 minutes at midnight and try to navigate your way to the Dinaldedi Chamber without lights and ropes? See what I mean?
@@kennyw871 Well I already know that I can't get to the Dinaldedi Chamber because I can't make that bottleneck passage. But if you want to buy me the plane ticket and get the clearance from the site manager I'll go and get as far in as I can. I have run full speed in the wood in the dark and not fallen. The sun is often so bright for me it hurts my tear ducts and makes me sneeze. Only an albino person would have better night vision than I have.
Thank you PBS. Your networks are the only ones I trust.
so this from 2017 and i’m just learning about it. when you’re interested in biology and psychology ( i’m including anthro and fossil bio, too), there is so much out there. glad YT put this in stuff i was interested in. 🌷🌱
There's a lot out there about Rising Star. The NatGeo was article is fascinating. The story of A sediba is amazing. Dr. Burger is cranking out as much info for us as possible. This is not normal! Most old school paleontologists closely guard their fossils and work for YEARS, without letting anybody near it . Its THEIRS!
Dr. Burger gleefully sends out copies of the Rising Star fossils so all sorts of universities can offer them to their students. He sends samples out to all sorts of labs. It's a good thing.
@@SandraNelson063 i had no idea! what an incredible researcher. thank you for letting me know. keep safe :) 🌷🌱
Surprised me the hour felt like twenty minutes...just wow! And, was emotional hearing about all the school children viewing the fossils & speaking Naledi's name in their different dialects!
I am so claustrophobic that I am nauseated watching others do the crawl. I can hear the earth grinding rocks all around me. And the dark. . Thanks go to those who can do such work and bring the truth to light.
Yeah, already not feeling too good, I had to fast forward through that part of the talk.
lol you can hear the earth grinding rocks? you should lend your ear to science.
Me to just watching makes me. Hypo ventilate
Those aren't the rocks grinding, it's your teeth! You'll be fine!
@@SamtheIrishexan I leave all the caving to you. You are far braver than I am. Really you are!
Mr. Hawks is a great communicator. I watch videos on human origins all the time. One of my favorite subjects! This dude picks out wonderful details which I want.
(some others leave out critical details, and leave you behind.)
Since college I have been interested in anthropology and paleontology. Over the years there have been more immediate challenges that impacted my life. Family, work and life in general got in the way. Retired, I have the time to return to my interest in mankind.
Same!
Welcome back, we missed you.
How fortunate that I receive such knowledge of our origins. Thank you.
I’m not sure if the presenter would ever see this but I’m a hospice nurse and I am driving right now in Horton and serendipitously found this lecture after watching Dragon Man. Fantastic lecture!! Thank you!!!
@@bantermaestro2635 they couldn't get the laser thru The CaVe …
I agree, this is an excellent presentation.
I sure hope you're not driving while watching TH-cam videos.
@@kennyw871 hehe!! I only listen through my car stereo via my Bluetooth. However, I have watched this lecture twice it’s so fascinating!!!
Thank you for all you do for your patients. That’s a tough job. Hugs
I wish to congratulate all outstanding team members for theyrs achivements. Wish you all the best and new discoveries.
Congrats for finding animal bones and claiming they are pre human.
This man does such good presentations. Really good stuff. I watched other ones he has done. One of the best.
Using internet technology to allow school kids to see the site is awesome.
I found this fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Very well done. Thank all the kind folk involved. Just extraordinary.
This is such a great presentation. He does such a fantastic job of giving an "Early Hominids for Dummies" talk so to speak, whilst still keeping it engaging for other more knowledgeable people and covering literally every aspect. I didn't leave with any unanswered questions, great stuff from Prof. Hawks, a pleasure to listen to.
I have followed John Hawks via YT for a number of years -. he has an excellent series of talks looking at techniques used in the lab, another series on location looking at events that occurred in those locations - cave systems in the Middle East where Neanderthals and Sapiens lived, either overlaying in time, sequentially inhabiting the same systems in stratified continuity or even perhaps contemporaneously and his overflowing joy admixed with his deep knowledge is truly magnificent. The deepest and near mystically reverent video is an overview of the development of humans growing knowledge of our own origins, the many strands of hominids, their relationships genetically and thru interbreeding, the breathtaking grandeur of thought and thinking, opening the doors to a fuller enlightenment and understanding of where we came from and thus who we are, all filmed as Dr Hawks walks through Charles Darwin's garden, peppered with stories of the understanding that came to the genius of "Origins" as he walked thru these very paths, plus observations and explanations of how "Origins" had steered Dr Hawks own path of Discovery. This man is a genius of thought, creative insights and a sublime communicator, able to enlighten us with dexterity and delight. Its late here in London, work already threatens with the dawn a mere 5 or so hours away, so I must defer this viewing till I am able to watch it with the attention it deserves. I will be waiting like a little kid "waits" for Christmas day, emitting barely controlled squeals of anticipation throughout the day until I can get home and settle myself down. I am not normally a squeal suppressing infant in the course of a normal day, I wonder how my colleagues will react to this? Hehehehe, it'll be great fun I suspect!!!
It's amazing how many gullible people believe in those respected looking charlatans..!
They manufacture entire fossils and name them with intriguing labels and send over enthusiastic people to find and dig them out which they had secretly buried in those caves..
They are not scientists but charlatans called alchemists..They are after discovering a way to immortality in order to escape from the eternal Hell Fire with which they were all promised ..!
But you go ahead and believe in their bs anyway..!
The one that
Probably one of the most interesting videos I've seen in years. Really nice to hear how all these things are dated too. When I was young, it was practically only guesswork.
John, are you trying to tell us you've fossilized? Dating techniques have been around a long time, but not that long.
@@kennyw871 Indeed, C14 dating was indeed new when I was young.
I love John Hawks and I could listen to him all day. A brilliant man of science.
I agree
I as well...it's all so fascinating...
Had heard of Homo Naledi but knew nothing about it. This was an extraordinary lecture and I'm happy to have had the opportunity to see it.
On TH-cam, I wish you could use a pointer to show us what to look at when you are describing the visuals. By the time I read the visual, and find what you are describing, I've missed the verbal description and find I am falling behind. Perhaps a red light as a pointer.
This is so fascinating and it keeps on giving us new information. These cavers are so brave! I would be terrified of getting stuck! I am forever grateful that Lee Berger, John Hawks, National Geographic and their teams are sharing all they discover with the world.
I had no idea about this! I'm a non-scientist, but fancy myself as someone who tries to keep up with these things. Brilliant presentation!
This is so Brilliant ‼️ Incredible and really exciting ‼️
Please continue to give us updates as they come in from the team of scientists there in the Neledi Cave..I can't wait to hear more about their discoveries which will update their present discoveries ‼️😁
Thanks to both Wisconsin University, and PBS who I hope will go out of their way to continue to update us all in the latest discoveries of the Neledi people.
Have a great day everyone ‼️😁😎🤠
@Lynne Dunn ... Yes, so true. We must be thankful to the scientists who share their finds and the knowledge they learn from them with the public. I am very eager to find out more, especially concerning the genetics. I wish China would share the discoveries made in their country as well. Too bad it's always politics blocking discoveries about our past.
Tom, fine intro. John Hawks - I see I wasn't the only one to notice what an awesome combination of human traits YOU presented to us. I don't think I can do you justice in less than 1000 words how much I appreciate you. I just hope your descendants et al appreciate you as much as I did here. All too many of your "peers" don't even come close enough to you to be able to fail by comparison. Not only did I learn more about our "ancestors" but I saw a man who I can only hope we can "evolve" into in our future.
Prof. Hawks, like all your presentations, a great presentation. A total treat.
kudos for publishing open access
Everything about the rising star cave project is super fascinating, thank you for this very well presented overview
Fascinating stuff, and another great presentation by Prof. Hawks!
And so it did (make for an interesting bath.)
I should probably be grateful that I did not see the images of people in the "tight squeeze" situations on the caves.
As a boy I went caving, but as an adult I could not stand the MRI machine I had to enter yesterday.
Much respect and many thanks to the professionals who entered these caves to bring this news to humanity at large.
Excellent dissertation as usual. I have been following Homo Naledi for years and await every new event.
Ditto
Me too..
I grew up very near the caves and in the 80’s we would go into the entrance of the cave system into the main chamber not knowing we were so close to all these amazing discoveries.
Wow this is great work. Thank you so much for making this open access! I am so grateful for these tiny archeologists for the contortions they do daily to bring this research to the surface. It makes me want to travel back in time to see these humans possibly trading and interacting together.
Thank you for sharing this very interesting video.
John Hawks' presentation is really smooth and precise.
Phenomenal work, thank you so much for bringing this to us, you are all treasures in your skills.
A tiny bit of dishonesty on Dr. Hawks part:
I have followed this story from the day that it hit the news. What I don't get is that he doesn't mention the fact that recent (within our lifetime) spelunking cavers had already been in the Dinaledi chamber before it was was "discovered" in 2013. According to the accounts (from Berger, et al and his critics) not only were some of the surface bone finds "trampled," i.e. recently broken by stepping upon them, giving the ends of the surface bone finds a bright-white coloration, but there were a survey markers ( ! ) (stakes, I assume) already placed in the ground around the chamber. Get me: this is the most spectacular paleoarchaeological find, perhaps ever. I read Berger and Hawks' book "Cave of Bones" in a single reading this week, but the implied impression is that this was the first time modern humans entered that space in a quarter-million years: a bit disingenuous. These guys are on the cutting edge of creating a new paradigm of thought in their field, much needed. I think that perhaps they need to address the possibility that the unknown recent cavers built fires, whatever. They should head this stuff off at the pass.
Outstanding presentation! Where can be find that 'open acces' views from the rising star cave?
Congrats for the excellent work you are doing down there!
I remember watching this when it was published by the original channel
Hats off to the covers, im seriously freaked out watching them go through the squeezes, I photo graph white pointers etc outside of cages... but crawl through those spaces ..no way. Fantastic video , excellent
Holy crap! Those women are pure gold! Hats off for these amazing people! 😳 was this cave system the Naledi cemetery?
Here's a theory. Maybe this creature was nocturnal and spent the daytime hours hiding in the cave. With its ability for climbing, coupled with an ability to navigate in low light environments it was able to explore and navigate the depths of the cave.
In summary, a creature spending a great deal of time in the cave, add to that climbing ability and being comfortable in dark environments due to their nocturnal nature. Suddenly finding individuals down there doesn't seem so unlikely.
Add to this predentary pressure from cats or other humanoids that can pursue Naledi into the cave system. Then the remote depths of the cave become a natural refuge where predators couldn't or wouldn't follow.
I'm not saying I believe this, but if outside-the-box thinking is invited, then give this some consideration?
They wouldn't want their dead mates/family kicking around though would they?
To the Walrus, lots of cultures placed their dead in their homes under the floors opps long after this. I cant imagine dragging a body into a cave, its I'd work but protection from being eaten may well have been the motivation which is astonishing.
Prehistoric humans of all species and even other primates living outside of forests used caves as shelters, Home Naledi is not unique on that. Unless Naledi had some extremely rapid evolution of night vision, it wouldn't have much success hunting at night, because virtually every other animal has better night vision, and many big cats also prefer to hunt at night. More likely explanation is that they had some sort of primitive burial, hiding corpses in remote parts of the cave. As to their mixed archaic features, I think that's the whole point of presentation, evolution is not linear and homogenic.
@@AG-ig8uf All good thoughts
I've changed my mind about some of this now
Fascinating adventure and discovery thank you so much for sharing this video. I look forward to hearing more
It's inspiring watching smart, dedicated professionals work so hard to further scientific discovery. I had a panic attack just watching them squeeze through those tight cave passages.
Oh, me too! I’m way too claustrophobic to even IMAGINE myself in those passages.
They look a lot roomier than i expected because the camera lies n makes it look bigger
@@conniestone6251 i had a full body scan once. i was put into a cylinder that was pretty roomy, maybe 3 feet in diameter, compared to those passages those small framed women squeezed through. i'm pretty stocky at 5'9'' and i was sedated.
even sedated i almost lost it. i've been in dangerous situations before but that was almost too much.
Top Class all over presentation. Very Interesting.
Homo Niledi... totally fascinating, rich findings and exploration.
This is the most rivetting presentation about ancient humans that I have ever watched.
Thank-you John Hawkes, the whole exploration team and all supporting you....
What gifted presentation and enquiry. A glorious invitation to rich intrigue of profound importance
also thank-you to every individual you are discovering. What incredible lives discovered here.
This exploration and discovery is totally incredible obviously to many. I am a very untrained ignorant person way away in Australia but this presentation helps me to feel intelligent and informed which is such a good sign of good teaching and sharing of information. That you are endeavouring to bring this to public attention, the students and teachers and researchers of tomorrow with success and so much excellence is such a credit to you all.
I have one dumb thought which is probably obviously obvious to many...
Could these esteemed 'people' of the past have been placed or dropped somewhere higher up in the chamber then moved over time by earth movement (quakes) which compromised the chamber somewhat, inviting the bones to settle deeper?
The mystery of how the bones got there, so articulated is such a welcome treasure for investigation.
That these lives ended about 300,000 years ago, with such small brains and other indicators of life being so much 'older' and yet with such similarities to later hominem assemblages and characteristics is so so exciting. That so many of you are employing your skills and passion and sharing this with each other and the world is a joy to share and benefit from... THANK-YOU from Australia, where we have arguably some of the oldest continuing human culture on the planet in situ, still living and able to teach us about so much life which continues from 70,000 (give or take) in human terms with this land, waters and under the wide southern skies.
What they don't tell you is human skeletons and human artifacts have been found that predate this creature.
Just another extinct primate like all the rest.
Total bullshit and if you believe that crap you are risking your eternal soul!!!
God created us and everything just like the Bible says and if you did any research on the Bible you'd know that!!!
Right now there's 100% proof that the Bible is God's word! Right now every Bible on earth has been supernaturally changed into something perverted!!!
Isaiah 11 6 now says that the wolf will lay down with the lamb instead of the right scripture that says the lion will lay down with the lamb!
There's been all kinds of evil changes to the scriptures.
Amos 8 11 says that there will be a famine not for food or water but for God's word and we are in that famine now!!!!
Amos 8 11 being fulfilled proves without a doubt that the Bible is God's word!!!
I feel very sorry for all you gullible people that believe such bullshit as this!!! These damned evolutionist have faked over and over again missing links and I'm sure that this Bullshit is just another one of their lies and it's probably just a bunch of monkey bones like everything they have found before!!!
They have never found one transitional fossil and that's because God created everything!!!
The fossil record proves that everything appears instantly without transitions and fully formed!!!
These damned bastards have lied and lied about everything! Look at all their so called missing links, everyone of them has been proven to be a bunch of bullshit that they put together to lie to everyone!!!
If evillution actually happened there would be billions and billions of transitional fossils everywhere!!!!
So where are they??? Where's the transitions between everything right now???
Look up the amazing discoveries of Ron Wyatt and check out the site, Truth Shock TV on TH-cam and see how every Bible on earth has been supernaturally changed!!!
It's 100% proof of God!!!
It figures that they would come up with some crap like this because right now we are in the end times and it's getting more and more like the days of Noah everyday!!!
All you ignorant gullible people who believe these liars and don't believe in God will regret it for eternity!!!!
Just Google proof of God and see all the evidence for our Lord!!!
Outstanding work and promotion of education.
Reminds me of astronomy, the deeper you look the more you see. Also great presentation very interesting. I hope I live long enough to hear the puzzle figured out.
What a great lecturer he is.
A natural library of history, and exceptional studies of the contents, thank you.
Really appreciate this work and on a lighter note, love the tie🙂
Those first two cavers are HEROES BEYOND IMAGINATION ON THE QUEST FOR TRUTH I SALUTE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally Academic scholar allows true history to be taught.
Thank you for this video 🌹❤️
The deeper we go into our past genetics, the more branches we find. The population of Hom on Earth is not discussed that much. I did hear a figure of several thousands during the Lake Toba era, where we nearly became extinct. The finer the data, the more we look like a broad pack of 'tribes' and we were very regional 'hunter gatherers'.
We haven't changes much at all. We're still "hunters and gatherers" for other peoples money.
My Full respect goes out to Martibello going through Superman crawl! Bravo! fella!
Fascinating.
Is it possible that these Naledi went in as a group, got lost and could not get out? It would be easy to have happen since they probably didn't have any form of light to take with them, and groping around in the pitch blackness would have caused them to go to all corners in a panicked attempt to get out. Some may have died at the bottom of the chute as others fell in on top of them. All speculation, but perhaps a possibility? It's a horrific thing to think of a band of Naledi going into a cave for some unknown reason, getting lost in the dark, becoming trapped, some trying to find ways out, and eventually succumbing in the all engulfing darkness, but I really can't think of anything else which would account for it, unless somehow the morphology of that cave is highly plastic and it was much easier to get into in the distant past.
So understandable. Brilliantly presented. Thank you
They have ruled out FLOWING water tp explain how naledi remains were distributed. But how about the RISE AND FALL OF GROUND WATER over the millennia? The bones were not mineralized, so they should be less dense than rock and sediment, meaning they could be slowly moved about by tiny currents in the cave system associated with the rise and fall of water in the local aquafer.
Then the bones would be disarticulated.
@@stompdonky Yep, you're probably right. But just because the caves are currently dry doesn't mean they always were.
Professor Hawks NAILED that lecture, fascinating.
I got interested in this finding because a video of Ben G Thomas that the team let them film with them. This is so interesting and great. I hope your research continues and we learn a lot of things.
I'm astonished by the enigma of "how did those skeletons get there?" The H. naledi had to see in the darkness right? How?
Also I want to know more about the geology of the cave and why it isn't under water like many caves.
Yo, saw the talk mentioning fire use in the cave?
there was definitely water at certain times over the last two hundred and thirty thousand years going through that cave that's why they are as deep as they are when they found these bones which they would have been closer to the top of the ground when the cave first became a cave if that makes any sense so yeah the ground shifts in the water comes and goes and there you have it
I can tell this guy is in his prime. I hope he’s going balls out raising them girls, leading those students and growing us humans. Thank you professor
He study past not future...
Is it only me who become claustrophobic by just watching these incredible videos? 😳😉
Fantastic. Thank you UW.
A second chamber? Complete skeleton? Dated? Wow never get an update like this on old discoveries. So fresh!
The time stamp says December 2017.
Real science just fascinates me. Thank you.
Exciting lecture! Thank you for the video.
Those women are amazing! Congrats to all of them for being a vital part of this amazing discovery and research effort.
Sensational lecture.
I spent some time in Mozambique in January, 2003, trying to stay away until the States got a bit warmer. I travelled up the coast and, after a big storm, I found a flat rock on a beach with about seventy partial fossilized hominin footprints and one perfect complete footprint, size 3 1/2, the same as my wife. I took a photograph as best I could. It's not easy to photograph a fossilized footprint with a disposable camera. When I got back to the States I had copies made and mailed them to all the paleoanthropologists I could find listed in the library. Not one of them was slightly interested.
The description should state the date of this presentation 2016/17.
I appreciate the details of how the teeth, bones, and flow-sone were dated.
Fascinating. Understanding if they climbed down there or were thrown down the chute is a very interesting question and might tell us much about their way of understanding their world. Any tools of any sort?
It is utterly ludicrous to believe that arboreal creatures with brains the size of an orange, A. learned to control fire and B. would be brave enough and curious enough to crawl all the way through that cave, dragging their dead behind them. It is far more likely that, at one time, the cave was far more accessible than it is now, and that over the course of 100s of 1000s of years, the geology of the cave changed to what it is today. Of course, a lot of people are making a name off this, so they're looking for the most exotic explanation possible. I'm 100% sure that eventually there will be a far more prosaic explanation.
A scientist who smiles, who's no kid by a long-shot and goes from smiling to - as he so approoriately - positively giddy in a heart beat; what a wonderful person not just a teacher!
I would just like to comment on the passages. My experience with earth is it moves over time slowly. I am thinking the passages and chambers would have been more accommodating back then. My feeling the deep part of the cave was a religious place like a church. The very deep parts became a cemetery.
I can only offer sympathies to Dr. Burger. How madly frustrating to be so very close to your heart's desire, and not be able to reach it.
How did they get so far into the cave without lights? Did they use torches? Why would they even want to go so deep into it
Makes me wonder if the sizes of the openings haven't changed in the intervening years.
I love PBS.
Thank you so much.
It amazes me how every lecture on TH-cam it is impossible to see what the highlighter is pointing at! Seems like academia could solve this problem, but I guess not. It's like driving blind, no way of knowing what the speaker is referring to!
Its like woman to complain about the 2% bad in a 98% excelent. It never fails.
Yes, this was a problem for me, too. I did notice labels but with my Chromebook's 11" screen, I could not read them.
@@pedrobismark5618 Pointing out problems is the only way things *ever* get fixed.
you make it sound very exciting.. and it kind of is to think that such an hominid wondered the earth so little time ago.. Thanks for sharing this 😀
Just found this, what a wonderful informative video. What a wonderful discovery.
Surely can not some form of crawling or miniaturised flying drone assist with the exploration in these situations?
In a cave with these tiny little apertures? Laser mapping has already helped create extremely useful detailed mapping/3 D modelling, from which other spaces maybe deduced/entrances discovered, entrances so small only some robotic crawling device may be the only option. Lets hope the tech improves enough that onboard logic can aid discovery while preserving the site - we dont want another Musk cave Submarine idiocy that E-Loon proposed for the Thai school boys trapped soccer team
@@Cheeseatingjunglista E loon lol 😂😂😂 - yes I recall the Thai incident, didnt he insult the actual rescuers or is memory playing tricks?
@@Mark13091961 Yeah did, he called the leader of the rescuers a "pedo" because the man told Musk the sub wouldnt fir in the cave. Seems a tad sensitive does our billionaire
@@Cheeseatingjunglista Eye… that’s it
Where do the guys with the huge elongated skulls fit it? Homo Capiti Giantis?
Very interesting but for some reason, I cannot see your laser pointer. I'm watching on TH-cam if it makes any difference. I wish that I could see it. Thanks, Ken
Is it against the rules to widen some of the narrow passages to improve access?
Very interestng and espeically puzzlng as to how and WHY the bones got in such hard to reaach places.
You guys have my dream job!!! Fascinating stuff!!
While for us there might only be a select few who can squeeze into these chambers let's not forget Naledi was a lot smaller than us and very slenderly built. Incredible as the implications are for Naledi culture, from a physical standpoint it's highly plausible for Naledi to be able to get into the cave. If we can get in with equipment Naledi could definitely get in with bodies in tow.
Phenomenal work.
I think you should change the title of this and note it's from 2017. I started watching this thinking it must be some new discovery since the original discoveries that was again changing human origins. This title is misleading, and with a 5-18-22 date seems an update and it's not. Other than that Dr Berger, Dr. Hawks... and all are doing amazing work.
Very interesting subject and very well explained, thank you very much. And give a big thank you to those very well trained "excavators".
Lecture is 10/4/2017. Four years from the title date of May 18, 2022 , and a few months older as I view this in late Aug. 2022. Very interested in what has been discovered since.
First I wonder if the Naledi community were fleeing - fire comes to mind but I imagine would have left traces higher up in the vicinity of the main entrance. Also as a one time caver have an appreciation of the tight crawls. Takes strength. Physical and mental. Kudos to all. 1:02:42
Naledi, the most interesting human search to me! I appreciate the crew for the effort to bring all this to viewers. I'm also amazed of the maze and tight spaces the Naledi went through just to deposit the bodies. Could it be that during their time the entrances were more open? I mean even if the openings were closing at a rate of one eighth inch every thousand years, we would realize that back then, it was more open than now. It's a thought⚠️
Are they human, though?.. Or genus Homo?.. I’m not sure I believe that.. Seems more likely they were an isolated late version of Paranthropus?..
Fantastic and definitive ! Thank you
I could probably look this up but, what was the original orientation of bones when found? Did they fall there, were they sacrificed there...what happened? What forensic evidence has been gleaned from the scene?
Fascinating discovery and great lecture.
Did the bodies die in the cave deep underground or did the caves form on top over the span of many years, from earthquakes and other geologic changes?