Date: 29/11/2013 13:40:51
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 439956
Subject: Richest human fossil site found in South Africa

Richest human fossil site found in South Africa

Archaeologists in South Africa have unearthed what could be the richest fossil site in Africa.

The Rising Star Expedition uncovered over 1,000 early hominid fossils – a very early form of human being – in a cave an hour north of Johannesburg.

The expedition leader invited the BBC on site to see them at work.

see link for video

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Date: 29/11/2013 16:42:04
From: PermeateFree
ID: 440006
Subject: re: Richest human fossil site found in South Africa

CrazyNeutrino said:

Richest human fossil site found in South Africa

Archaeologists in South Africa have unearthed what could be the richest fossil site in Africa.

The Rising Star Expedition uncovered over 1,000 early hominid fossils – a very early form of human being – in a cave an hour north of Johannesburg.

The expedition leader invited the BBC on site to see them at work.

see link for video

Bit more info, but not much.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131106-lee-berger-human-ancestor-fossil-excavation/

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Date: 29/11/2013 21:37:15
From: ratty one
ID: 440252
Subject: re: Richest human fossil site found in South Africa

You post some interesting links and often.

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Date: 30/11/2013 06:11:10
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 440347
Subject: re: Richest human fossil site found in South Africa

“Those finds were made at a site called Malapa Cave, northwest of Johannesburg.”

I’ve heard of Malapa Cave before.

From Wikipedia:
“At the beginning of this project, there were approximately 130 known cave sites in the region and around twenty fossil deposits. By July 2008, the pattern of cave distribution seen on Google Earth by Berger as well as the recognition of what these deposits looked like from satellites and significant amounts of searching on the ground had led Berger to discover almost 500 caves that scientists had not plotted or identified previously. Included in this were more than 25 fossil sites that had been unknown to science, all in probably the most explored region in Africa.

The site has produced arguably one of the most complete assemblages of early human ancestors ever found, including arguably the most complete skeletons of early hominids yet discovered, and by far the most complete remains of any hominid dating to around 2 million years ago. Over 200 elements have been recovered to date. The partial skeletons are initially described in two papers in the journal Science by Berger and colleagues as a new species of early human ancestor called Australopithecus sediba (sediba meaning natural spring or well in Sotho). In addition to the fossils revealed initially, rocks collected from the site have been examined with CT scans and contain even more bones, suggesting that the type specimen, Karabo, will become even more complete.”

I very much like the idea of using CT scans to find fossils within rocks. That new technique is probably responsible for the increase from 200 to “over 1000” hominid bone fragments. This is going to turn out to be a very interesting jigsaw puzzle.

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