Homo naledi

[ hoh-moh nah-led-ee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an extinct species of hominin classified within the genus Homo but on a branch other than that of modern humans: the first fossil specimens, originally assessed at about two million years of age, were discovered northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2013, but a more recent dating of 235,000–335,000 years places them in a time when more modern, larger-brained hominins were already living.
a fossil belonging to this species.

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Word History and Origins

First recorded in 2010–15; from New Latin; Homo ( def ) + Sotho naledi “star,” from the name Dinaledi (Chamber), “(chamber) of stars” in the Rising Star cave system where the fossils were found

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Homo heidelbergensis and Homo naledi were living in Africa.

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Neanderthals painted cave walls, Homo heidelbergensis hunted large animals like rhinos and hippos, and some scientists think even the small-brained Homo naledi was burying its dead in South African cave systems.

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"But it could be a different species - Homo erectus or Homo naledi - there were a number of hominid species around at that time in southern Africa."

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They belong to Australopithecus sediba, which lived around 2 million years ago, and the roughly 250,000-year-old Homo naledi.

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Directed by Mark Mannucci, “Unknown: Cave of Bones,” focuses on a recent expedition into a South African cave that contains skeletal remains of the ancient human relative homo naledi.

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homomorphism homonym

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