Caver Rick Hunter squeezing through the cave tunnels of the Rising Star cave system.

Wits University announced on 10 September 2015 the discovery of a new species of human relative, and named it Homo naledi.

And most remarkable, besides shedding light on the origins and diversity of our genus, H. naledi also appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to humans.

Professor Lee Berger and the Rising Star Expedition have discovered more than 1 550 numbered fossil elements – the single largest fossil hominin find yet made on the continent of Africa. Read more.