Excavation of Human Ancestor Fossils Begins in South African Cave

Lee Berger leads a team that will unearth newly discovered fossils.

Over the next several weeks, the expert team, directed by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger of South Africa's University of Witwatersrand, will delve into the Rising Star cave system outside Johannesburg to carefully retrieve the fossils.

Berger's team made headlines in 2010 with the announcement of the discovery of two skeletons of a new, two-million-year-old hominid species the scientists named Australopithecus sediba. Those finds were made at a site called Malapa Cave, northwest of Johannesburg.

Professor Lee Berger, far right, and his son Matthew pose with the skeleton of Australopithecus Sediba. The discovery, made in 2010, earned the professor global acclaim. Picture: THE TIMES/DANIEL BORN

Working under Berger’s direction, local cavers made the latest discovery at a site several miles from Malapa. The fossils will be excavated by a team made up of experienced caver-scientists from around the world. All have passed Berger's requirement of being small enough to fit into and out of cramped cave passages.

Without knowing exactly which species the bones come from, the team hopes their arduous recovery helps answer a broad list of deep questions about humanity's origins. [...] news.nationalgeographic.com

Link 2: Slinky scientists to excavate Gauteng humanoid fossil find


Actualización 12-11-13. Multiple Ancient Hominids Found on Day 2 of Rising Star Expedition
On the first day in the fossil chamber at the Rising Star Expedition outside of Johannesburg, Lee Berger’s team recovered a hominid mandible. Seeing other bones lying about, they went to bed (or sleeping bag, rather) with the thrill of knowing they were working on one of paleoanthropology’s most treasured finds: a partial hominid skeleton.
By lunchtime the next day, the experts cataloging, photographing, and examining the fossils in the tent clearly marked “SCIENCE,” were shaking their heads in disbelief and excitement as they realized that the bones clearly came from more than one individual. Whatever species is represented, this is among the rarest of finds.
“This just doesn’t happen,” said Lee...

Paleoanthropologist Peter Schmid examines one of the hominid bones emerging from caves below. (Photo by Andrew Howley)

Actualización 13-11-13. Video: Fossil Cache Yields Multiple Ancient Hominids



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Actualización 22-11-13. Fossil Fragments of Unknown Early Human Come Together
Scientists at a cave site in South Africa are kicking into high gear as they continue to uncover more fossil bones of what is suspected to be an early human ancestral ("hominid") species.

The location is known as the "Rising Star" Cave site in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, about 40 kilometers north of Johannesburg, and although it is far too soon to determine the classification and age of the fossil finds, the site could turn out to yield the richest collection of hominid fossil finds at any one site in South Africa, a country that has made history in the chronicles of human evolution research. More than 300 fossil fragments of multiple individuals have been recovered, with potentially much more to come. In the world of early human fossil hunting, this is a rare occurrence...


Actualización 26-11-13. Scientists bag more than 1 000 fossils at Cradle 'treasure trove'
Less than a month since Professor Lee Berger and the Rising Star Expedition team began excavating a "spectacular" fossil find, they have bagged more than a thousand fossils.

On Tuesday, the archaeological professor at Wits University's Institute of Human Evolution announced that this would be their last day of excavating at the site, "the richest early hominid site in South Africa, including Sterkfontein".

"The expedition was built to recover a single skeleton, not a treasure trove.
"We need to re-assess the scientific plan and also how to deal with the abundance of material," he said at a press briefing at the site in the Cradle of Humankind...