- A team of international researchers announced the discovery of a Homo naledi child named Letimela on Thursday.
- Professor Berger took the media inside the Rising Star cave where the discovery was made.
- According to Berger, Leti is immensely important to science.
Described as remarkable, Professor Lee Berger takes us into the Rising Star cave where the first partial skull of the Homo naledi child named Letimela was found.
"We know that between 230 000 and 300 000 years ago, the species Homo naledi utilised this system, they traversed the way through this system.
"We are not sure if they lived in this system or whether it was only used to enter…but as we continue to explore and excavate, those answers will become clear," Berger said.
Berger, project leader and director of the Centre for Exploration of the Deep Human Journey at Wits University, announced the discovery by a team of international researchers at the Malapa Museum on Thursday.
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He added:
Remarkable child - Berger
The child, described as "remarkable" by Berger, was named Letimela, which means "the lost one".
Speaking to the media inside the cave, Berger said Leti was immensely important to science.
"…because [this ] is the first time we are seeing the skull remains, frontal remains in teeth of one individual of the child. All the other children that we had were really just isolated conditions.
"These children of these ancient human relatives are the rarest of the rare things that we find within the fossil record. So she's a real treasure, just from the remarkable nature of having survived even in this condition for what is likely to be a quarter of a million years," he said.
According to Berger, Leti was found in one of the Rising Star cave system's most difficult and remarkably inaccessible areas.
He said:
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