Could the Rising Star hominins represent relict australopiths?

Could the Rising Star hominins represent relict australopiths? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Could the Rising Star hominins represent relict australopiths? Clément Zanolli This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8940950/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Following ten years of excavation, the Rising Star cave system (Gauteng Province, South Africa) yielded a large assemblage of skeletal and dental remains attributed to the extinct species Homo naledi. The bones and teeth show a mixture of features found in the australopith and/or early Homo, together with autapomorphic traits. The Rising Star hominins lived toward the end of the Middle Pleistocene, at a time when it is commonly assumed that among hominin genera, only Homo existed, while the australopiths were long extinct. However, the African fossil record for this time period is extremely scarce, with only a few Middle Pleistocene fossils available for all of the continent. The morphological evidence is analysed here to re-evaluate the taxonomy of the Rising Star hominins and to eventually explore different evolutionary scenarios. Biological sciences/Evolution/Anthropology/Biological anthropology Biological sciences/Evolution/Palaeontology Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files Supplementary.pdf Supplementary Information RS1202.pdf Reporting Summary Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8940950","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":603792341,"identity":"06a50fec-ba98-4608-ade8-7a2e6e788d42","order_by":0,"name":"Clément Zanolli","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACdmTOgwIJORB94AE+Lcxg0gDCSTCQMAZrSSBBC0NiA5iBRwd/M/PRDR93/GGQbz978EGCgUX6/LDDD4G22MnpNmDXInGYLe3mzDMGDIw9eckGQIflbrydZgDUkmxsdgC7FgNmHrPbvG0GQAfmmEmAtcxOAGk5kLgNpxb+b7f/ArWw8b8Ba0k3nJ3+gYAWHrbbjEAtPBIQWxLkpXPw2wL0i9nN3jZjHgmJN8YgvxhukM4pOJBggNsv/O3Nz278bJOTk+/PMXzwoaJOXn52+uYPHyrs5HBpgQEehFPBKg3wK0cF8g2kqB4Fo2AUjIKRAADcqVgivuLsmgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5617-1613","institution":"Université de Bordeaux","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Clément","middleName":"","lastName":"Zanolli","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-22 18:45:22","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8940950/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8940950/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106405628,"identity":"d62d6908-9fd1-48de-b3a2-ac598fc1ed0c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 09:27:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":861466,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"maintext.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8940950/v2_covered_18c6d81c-19a9-43d0-a2db-489b374eb82e.pdf"},{"id":106118119,"identity":"8070f3ea-398b-48ce-aa34-88ec620967b6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-03 17:04:53","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1641609,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"Supplementary.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8940950/v2/441accc77042762f23b8dd23.pdf"},{"id":106401773,"identity":"159a8eef-e817-4916-9675-40790a5d01f5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 09:09:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1530704,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Reporting Summary","description":"","filename":"RS1202.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8940950/v2/ad0b5ca819c75d55b07f27de.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Could the Rising Star hominins represent relict australopiths?","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8940950/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8940950/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Following ten years of excavation, the Rising Star cave system (Gauteng Province, South Africa) yielded a large assemblage of skeletal and dental remains attributed to the extinct species Homo naledi. 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