Homo naledi had a brain one-third the size of humans but displayed intelligence far beyond, according to new discovery
Bigger brains may not equate to higher intelligence after all, according to a remarkable study about the most recently discovered early hominin. Bigger brains may not equate to higher intelligence after all, according to a remarkable discovery about early hominin. Homo naledi, a hominin discovered in the Rising Star cave system in Africa's Cradle of Humankind in 2013, had human-like hands and feet but a brain a third of the size of humans -- a characteristic researchers previously attributed to a marker of far less intelligence than its Homo sapien relatives. But the assertion that bigger brain s make for a smarter species may have been disestablished now that scientists have made a harrowing journey into the Rising Star cave and discover ed that the species -- which lived about 335,000 - 236,000 years ago -- buried its dead and marked the graves. It is the first non- human species in History known to do so, paleoanthropologist and National Geographic Explorer in Residence Lee Be...