This article announces the fact that a new species of humans, called Homo Naledi, has recently been discovered in a South African cave. The remains of multiple bodies were enclosed in a dark and almost fully enclosed chamber that were only visible through a crack in the wall. The bones were originally seen by cavers that were visiting the cave, called Rising Star cave, and they squeezed through the seven inch wide opening to get a closer look. As soon as they realized what they were viewing, they alerted a fellow caver/geologist, who contacted Dr. Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist and a professor of human evolution in Johannesburg. Since the entrance to the cave was so narrow, assembling a team slender enough to enter proposed a challenge, but was eventually achieved and the bones were safely removed from the cave to be studied. This discovery of remains that were clearly deposited in a single spot suggests that this class of the human species was evolved enough to repeatedly place their dead in a distinct area. The age of the remains is currently undetermined, but a rough estimate puts them at between 2.5 and 2.8 million years old, and geologists put the cave at no more than 3 million years old. Scientists on the discovery team and others involved in research noted that the Homo Naledi had small skulls, curved fingers, long legs, and feet completely different from any other human species seen so far, indicating that this species was good at climbing and walking upright for long distances.
I chose this article because the information that a new human species was discovered is both highly interesting to me and also extremely relevant to all people today. It was previously thought that all of the classes of the human species had been discovered, but clearly that is not the case. This discovery is proof that science is always changing and there are always things to be explored and new things to find. With this new information, scientists can answer existing questions about the origins of life and get an even better picture of how humans evolved to present day.
This article was extremely informative and presented its topic in an organized way that was easy to follow. Any questions that I had were answered by the end of the article. One of the most positive things about the article was that it gave some background on the scientist in charge of the discovery, including his prior discoveries, and emphasized his importance in the archaeological and anthropological communities. However, a negative thing about the article was that I was unfamiliar with the current human species, so a timeline of sorts that depicted each class and their evolutionary timeframe would have been a helpful addition.
Wilford, John Noble. "Homo Naledi, New Species in Human Lineage, Is Found in South African Cave." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Sept. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/science/south-africa-fossils-new-species-human-ancestor-homo-naledi.html?action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront>.
I enjoyed reading Mallory's review of "Homo Naledi, New Species in Human Lineage, Is Found in South African Cave." She did a great job of highlighting the key information from the article and the important points. She explained how the remains were found and talked about what time period the remains date back to. I also thought Mallory did a good job of describing how this discovery affects us. She talks about how the structure of the body indicates that the Homo Naledi was a good climber. I also enjoyed how Mallory described how the remains were found. It gives a good background into the story.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I enjoyed the information of how they found the Homo Naledi, I think Mallory went into too much detail. She could have cut back her summary on the removal of the remains from the cave and added more about the remains and what they actually discovered. I also think that Mallory could have described in a little more detail how this helps us today. She briefly describes the effects, but not that much. A bit more info on the analysis of the body would have been helpful. However, overall Mallory did a great job reviewing this article.
After reading this review and article, I was amazed at how far back human history goes. When first learning about Otzi I was already astonished at how old the remains were. Now human remains even older than Otzi have been found and that is incredible. I'm interested in reading more about this as the studies on these remains progress.
I was very intrigued by Ms. Bates’ article “Homo Naledi, New Species in Human Lineage, Is Found in South African Cave.” I thought that Ms. Bates summary of the article was excellent and thoroughly described the information that that author was attempting to convey. Also, Ms. Bates offered the advice of adding a timeline to the article to show the evolution of the human species as we know, which I completely support. I believe that a timeline would be very helpful to understanding where the Homo Naledi fit in to the evolution of Home Sapien. The topic of the article was also very relevant to the central ideas of our course which made it something very useful to know about.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are two things that I would suggest to Ms. Bates for her future articles. First, I would liked for her to elaborate more into what the discoveries meant to the human society and how they would impact our understanding of the human species’ evolution. Second, I would have found it useful if Ms. Bates had explored the background of the author to ensure the credibility of the information.
In all, I feel as though Ms. Bates did a fantastic job summing up this article. I too find it amazing that we are just now discovering remains of another ancestor to the human race, 2.5 – 2.8 million years after they had passed away.
Mallory, I really enjoyed reading your review of "Homo Naledi, New Species in Human Lineage, Is Found in South African Cave". There were several things I thought you did well in your review. First, your review was very detailed in many respects, yet you didn't include any superfluous information. In particular, your analysis paragraph was direct and to the point. I, as the reader, felt engaged the entire time because every sentence in that paragraph seemed critical. Next, your summary excelled in putting perspective on the human species that had been discovered. You described the species itself thoroughly, and you also added dates to put the fact that the species was "young" on a timeline for a reader like me, who knows almost nothing about human development. Finally, you did a good job evaluating the author. Having read the article, I agree with everything you said about him in the final paragraph. In terms of constructive criticism, I would recommend two things. First, I would recommend incorporating quotes into your summary to add backing to your points. Quotes really bring the article into the summary, making it feel like the reader is almost reading the article itself. Second, I would recommend adding details to your summary pertaining to how the anthropologists managed to enter the narrow cave. Personally, it just seems interesting to me. I was really astounded by the fact that new human species are still being discovered nowadays, long since human beings were researched and other human fossils were discovered. Overall, great job on the review Mallory!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the review of the New York Times article "Homo Naledi, New Species in Human Lineage, is Found in South African Cave." The sequence of events that lead up to the discovery of the remains was easy to follow and detailed. For example, the reader learned of the location of the cave, the difficulty in obtaining the remains and the paleoanthropologist involved in the discovery. Why this discovery is significant to human lineage was clearly addressed. The Homo Naledi is between 2.5 and 2.6 million years old and has a small skull, curved fingers, long legs and completely different feet, indicating the species was good at climbing.
ReplyDeleteThe review needed more detail of the tests the paleoanthropologists did on the Homo Naledi and how they were able to discover the traits of the Homo Naledi. In addition, the review needed more context of the findings in human lineage. Why is the Homo Naledi such an important discovery in this field? Citing quotes from the researchers and experts involved would have strengthened the writing.
This article was detailed and informative. It was fascinating to hear the origin of the Homo Naledi, how it was found by researchers, and its specific attributes. Human lineage is a field that will never cease to exist, as researchers keep finding new remains; that was the reason I chose to read this article.