Fossils of a newly discovered ancient species, named "Homo naledi", are pictured during their unveiling outside Johannesburg September 10, 2015. (Photo/Agencies)
South African archeologists on Thursday officially announced a "groundbreaking fossil discovery of international importance".
The fossils, which consist of infants, children, adults and elderly individuals, were found in a room deep underground that named by the scientists as the Dinaledi Chamber, or "Chamber of Stars".
The fossils were revealed for the first time during an international launch at the Maropeng Visitor's Centre in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, some 50 km northwest of Johannesburg.
It has been much anticipated since Professor Lee Berger, research professor in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, and a team of researchers, cavers and explorers announced in November 2013 that they had discovered a significant fossil find in a cave known as Rising Star in the Cradle of Humankind.
The discovery of the new species of human relative not only sheds light on the origins and diversity of our genus, H. naledi, but also appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to humans, said the Wits in a statement.
The fossils, which have yet to be dated, lay in a chamber about 90 meters (some 100 yards) from the cave entrance, accessible only through a chute so narrow that a special team of very slender individuals was needed to retrieve them.
So far, the team has recovered parts of at least 15 individuals of the same species, a small fraction of the fossils believed to remain in the chamber.
"With almost every bone in the body represented multiple times, H. naledi is already practically the best-known fossil member of our lineage," Berger said.
Speaking on the occasion of the announcement of the discovery, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said "today will be written into the history books as one of those moments in which the world learnt something new and remarkable."
"The discovery of a new species of primitive hominin in our own genus reveals much about our ancestors.
"In time, it may reveal much about ourselves," Ramaphosa said.
This find will generate interest from beyond the scientific community as it will inspire poets and writers to revisit Africa's rich oral traditions, and to imagine ways to retell the story of mankind's common ancestry, he said.
"It will encourage us to enquire further about the whole scope of human existence, the world around us, and the world before us," Ramaphosa added.
