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Cave of Bones review: Lee Berger on the discovery of Homo naledi

Following his discovery of the ancient hominin Homo naledi, Lee Berger was determined to enter the cave where the fossils were discovered, but a dreadful journey lay ahead

By Alison George

9 August 2023

Professor Lee Berger, palaeontologist, explorer and member of The National Geographic Society, gestures as he explains the scientific relevance of discovering Homo Naledi in the Rising Star caves system in The Cradle of Human Kind, on May 11, 2023. The news shakes the foundations of human evolution: world-renowned paleontologist Lee Berger announced on Monday that he had discovered the oldest graves ever found in South Africa, pushing back the first traces of mortuary practices by some 100,000 years . The oldest tombs discovered so far were found in Israel and Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. They date from around 100,000 years before our era and house the remains of Homo sapiens, the direct ancestor of man. The burials unearthed in South Africa date from -200,000 to -300,000 years. (Photo by Luca Sola / AFP) (Photo by LUCA SOLA/AFP via Getty Images)

Lee Berger in the cave system where Homo naledi was discovered.

LUCA SOLA/AFP via Getty Images

Cave of Bones
Lee Berger and John Hawks (Penguin Random House)

UNTIL now, the most horrific journey of scientific discovery I had read about was by Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard in his 1922 memoir The Worst Journey in the World. He describes, in dreadful detail, an expedition to collect Emperor penguin eggs in the dark Antarctic winter. Temperatures plummeted below -56°C (-70°F), his tent blew away and he barely made it back alive.

But to me, a…

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