A research team announced on Thursday that they have been able to get partial skeletal remains of a possible human ancestor hidden in the deep caves of South Africa. Based on observations in the site, the scientists suspect that Homo Naledi practiced the human trait of burying their loved ones.

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The expedition leader Professor Lee Burger and his team came to the conclusion that they had stumbled into a Homo Naledi burial chamber. They have collected over a thousand skeletal fragments belonging to more than a dozen individuals. The ages of the remains vary from the young to old, but the all belong to the same specie - Homo Naledi.

The term "Naledi" is derived from the African Sesotho word for star. The recent discovery of this new species has already been published in the eLife science journal. So far, the Homo Naledi has the most bones and fossils collected in contrast to the other human ancestors or human related species.

The researchers have also dismissed the idea that the remains were victims of some type of predator or beings that had fallen into a trap. Berger pointed out that they did not find anything on the bones to support that theory . He said that it is more likely that the Homo Naledi honored their dead by hiding them in caves.

Berger said that they became aware of Homo Naledi's existence two years ago. He said that Homo Naledi may have existed around three million years ago.

The professor was careful not to quickly assume without further study that the Homo Naledi may in fact be the "missing link" between humans and primate. Berger would like to refer to the new discovered species more a "bridge" for now.

Natural History Museum spokesperson Professor Chris Stinger believed that many human like species emerged during the early days of human evolution, but only one species survive.

Researchers believe that the numerous Homo Naledi bones can yield much information on their way of life. Homo Naledi shows characteristics that are similar to humans and primates.

Tagshomo naledi, human ancestors, human like species, new human species, Missing link, ancient man, prehistoric humans, Homo erectus, african human fossils, Human evolution