In 2013 a pair of cave explorers stumbled across a collection of bones in a cavern deep inside the Rising Star cave system in Gauteng's Cradle of Humankind, which turned out to be one of the greatest fossil finds ever made on the African continent. The collection of 15 partial skeletons belonging to a new hominid species were christened <em>homo naledi</em> and revealed to the world with much fanfare in 2015. During the last two years more bones have been discovered in the Rising Star caves and extensive studies have dated the fossil remains to between 335 000 and 236 000 years old, putting the <em>homo naledi</em> species as living in the same time period as <em>homo spaiens</em>.<br /> <br /> What is even more exciting for scientists is the location where the fossils were found - deep inside an almost entirely inaccessible cave system. Previous discoveries made in the area were in open caves and scientists surmised that the bodies of famous hominin fossils such as Mrs Ples and Little Foot came to rest there after falling through cave entrances on the surface. However, the Rising Star cave where <em>homo naledi</em> was found could not have been accessed by accident, which suggests that <em>homo naledi</em> deliberately used these caves to bury their dead, indicating that <em>homo naledi</em> was self-aware and capable of complex thought and ritual - and therefore an 'almost human' species.<br /> <br /> The amazing collection of fossils, including 'Neo', one of the most complete hominin skeletons ever discovered, go on display at the Maropeng visitors centre in the Cradle of Humankind until the end of the year. Read more about the <em>homo naledi</em> research at the official <a href="http://naledifossils.gauteng.net/">naledi fossils website</a> (photos courtesy University of the Witwatersrand).