How The Cradle of Humankind Reveals the Answers to Human Evolution

[@GaryR55]

It is so refreshing to me, at 70, having been interested in human origins since I was 7, that young people like you have also learned of this. I have been quite worried, since the 1970s, when the "Creationists" tried to ban the teaching of evolution in the American school system, via lawsuits, etc, that this knowledge might never be shared with future generations. That this hasn't happened, after all, is evidence of the never ending unquenchable hunger for knowledge that has driven our species for thousands of years.😊

[@Gustavo.D.Franceschi]

I really wanna like your coment, but the fact the likes stayed at 77 with the number 7 being mentioned so many times throught It Is just too good of a coincidence to mess up. So I'd like to say "Have a nice day!" instead.

[@SnailHatan]

Oh, no, that has absolutely happened. There are entire states where they don’t teach about evolution in science class. Multi-million-dollar private schools, religious schools, even some public schools. Tennessee, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin it is not required to be taught in school. And many more private schools which don’t teach it even in states where it is required for public education. The right loves to whine about censorship and cancel culture while actively hiding the facts from our children, banning and burning books. It’s disgusting and infuriating.

[@myparceltape1169]

Where will our quest for knowledge lead us? Are we possibly being led by our habits recorded on digital computers, our feelings deduced and magnified back to us. ?

[@zucottimanicotti7112]

I had the privilege of visiting this site on a school trip, seeing actual human ancestor bones in person is an extremely surreal experience.

[@vincekelly5233]

What school do you go to?!?? Is it in South Africa? If not, that's one hell of a school trip... I mean, I live in Pittsburgh, Pa United States. We took school trips to places like The Andrew Carnegie Museum and what not...

[@ronniewall492]

YOU SAW LIES

[@zucottimanicotti7112]

@@vincekelly5233 South Dakota State University, it was part of the study abroad program.

[@dajjukunrama5695]

Your name is Italian, the older remains related to you was found in Bulgaria, not South Africa, come to think about it, where is Bulgaria in this video? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@thesleepytyrannosaurusrex297]

Ah shit there's a creationist in this reply section!

[@hollyodii5969]

I can’t believe your incredible adventure! Lee Berger!!!!! The Rising Star cave system?!! I’m in complete awe at all you got to experience and share with us. What a life changing experience! The fossils! The museums! The caves! What an honor!

[@pencilpauli9442]

Nice one! You are so lucky! Apart from lack of funds my health isn't up to such adventures, but it's still wonderful to have the experience second hand via the internet

[@MartinCHorowitz]

I am waiting for Ben and Doug to stumble across their own elderly skeletons with a memorial plaque to the Ill fated Thrinaaks 2082 time travel expedition....

[@Denny_Boi]

Humble brag: I've handled and catalogued the carbonate rocks Homo Naledi was preserved in. What a great palaeontology site.

[@tonydagostino6158]

My earlier comment was congratulatory, now I'm seriously jealous. Thanks so much for the peek at the museum and cradle of humanity. The next time you go into a cave, take a hand-held UV light. You'll be amazed at how it reveals the diagenetic history of cave deposits like breccias

[@thomaszaccone3960]

The biggest question about Naledi is how they wound up in that cave

[@mrdgenerate]

Absolutely not the biggest question. Wut are you, RE tarded?

[@barrydysert2974]

17:46 "...their presence could still be felt all these hundreds of thousands of years later." !:-) 💜🙏⚡️

[@fearlessjoebanzai]

Brilliant, I'm really happy that you guys got to do this, as I think you're doing a great job infecting people with your enthusiasm for the subject! Plus it's nice to hear Doug not being needlessly sarcastic!

[@annw7843]

I’m very jealous. You’re living the dream! I think the interesting thing with discussing homo naledi’s potential disposal of the dead, is that if this was an early modern human deposit or even a Neanderthal deposit, very few people would think that this was anything besides deliberate disposal. For all the evidence present, deliberate disposal is the simplest explanation. It doesn’t mean there aren’t any other possibilities, but those that aren’t logical reaches have been mostly disproven. I don’t mind people with alternative hypotheses to deliberate disposal, but I do find it interesting how many people intentionally reach past the simplest answer. Also, a note of your phrasing in the video. Berger’s team generally avoids claiming ritual funerary behavior in their papers, they instead suggest deliberate disposal of the dead. The phrasing of deliberate disposal avoids the connotation of symbolic or religious behavior which would have implications for brain and social complexity. As of yet, beyond specific placements of bodies that seem to be deliberate (see Letti and Nao) they have yet to publish on any artifacts found associated with the bodies which would suggest intentionally symbolic rites. Given that the issue can become contentious, the small phrasing is important to maintain clarity. :)

[@liamredmill9134]

Still getting them out the solid rock,how exciting for the future of humanid history,thankyou all for a fantastic behind the scenes look

[@prfish980]

Excellent video. Thanks!

[@geekyfreq]

Love what you guys do. Thank you!

[@RoughRoman]

In the image at 5:06. There is a venue on the left called Greensleeves. Which is basically a medieval larping restaurant. Weird to see my home area in a KZbin video.

[@fgialcgorge7392]

Great stuff.

[@DingbatToast]

Fabulous video boys, so cool. 🙏😍

[@robrice7246]

Have you ever thought of visiting the Laohu Valley Reserve where it's known for its "Save China's Tigers" project?

[@big1dog23]

I often wonder if Naledi were actually using the caves as an escape from predators, such as larger humans. Obviously, many never made it out. Anyway, seems like many parts of the caves have bones, not just the original sites of discovery. Food for thought...or predators, lol.

[@gerhardoosthuysen7247]

Well done guys🎉

[@inqow1886]

damn, being not just physically present in school pays off

[@aligator3257]

I'm glad my wreck of a car made it to the cradle for you guys

[@Yezpahr]

3:53 It's Fang!! Primal fans around the world rejoice. Where's Spear though?

[@PFbigfan447]

Spear is probably still somewhere out there in those caves growling at some small inconveniences.

[@Rico-Suave_]

Great video, thank you very much , note to self(nts) watched all of it twice 21:18

[@marshaboody9069]

What were they eating to need such big strong teeth? Any ideas?

[@gl15col]

Probably a diet closer to gorillas; tough plants like bamboo shoots.

[@Zedigan]

Pretty sure Stefan Milo, another great palaeontology channel, did a video on them

[@MFCunnilingus]

@3:35 for pure Ben G. Ecstasy

[@biomuseum6645]

Wait Wasn’t Kenia the human cradle?

[@secularsunshine9036]

*Let the Sunshine In...* thank you

[@Kroggnagch]

How come now there are no other human types?

[@Dr.IanPlect]

It's this concept called _extinction_

[@erents1]

Awesome!

[@copisetic1104]

I think a debate with Stephen Meyer would be great!

[@AMC2283]

Actual evidence is even greater

[@FlappySock]

Con man

[@Martianig]

Ok but he didn’t have to do all of that at 2:09 💀

[@scarletlightning565]

Would an underground astronaut be a lithonaut?

[@-fred]

Yes, in caves other than the Rising Star.

[@muhammadzakariyaedwards]

Never disturb the dead!

[@adorablecockroach5131]

Why? They aren't digging up graves only decades old these are remains that are tens of thousands or millions of years old and are important to understanding our past.

[@snakesnake6799]

But where is the missing missing link. Professor Farnsworth..

[@cyrilio]

In what episode will you escavate the bones from the district 9 prawns?

[@KellyClowers]

Very cool

[@Fluckor666]

what was the purpose of the cloth masks? Dust?

[@raydreamer7566]

Also possible that these early type humans knew enough to take away there dead to isolate the bodies to prevent predictors and scavengers coming to the tribe and hunting the living ........... Survival technique...

[@shawnmalloy2919]

But wait....I thought I'd heard somewhere that the Earth was only 6000 years old; and that all these fossils were simply a test of our faith in the divine...! I'm so confused.

[@fredparkinson1289]

What did the early humans use for light? they didn't have flashlights.

[@kowynnieisamonkey]

Fire!

[@JesseJames83]

Brought to you by Pringles!

[@dks13827]

Good job.......mask up outside. Germs !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@headdragondavidaustinsimmo4025]

Painted people are the last stage of evolution 2 color there kids are born perfect

[@persianking44]

All of this definitely begs the question as to what the hell happened that left us as the only extant surviving species of humans.

[@charoleawood]

Early human species did breed together and produce offspring. For me the question is how far back into the human evolutionary tree could a modern human go before reproduction becomes impossible.

[@persianking44]

@@charoleawood That would have been a relatively minor contributing factor though, rather than one of the causes.

[@charoleawood]

​@@persianking44 You are right. We can assume that tribal competition contributed to it --- we can also assume that said competition contributed to brain enlargement over the generations with smaller brained groups not being able to out compete larger brained groups and then mating would have occurred between surviving groups. Environment also plays a role. But now I think of another question --- what is the earliest pre-human species that could no longer reproduce with chimpanzees?

[@mokarokas-1727]

@@charoleawood - It's not like chimpanzees as a species have existed unchanged all that time either. lol, I guess you're asking how far back we have to go to find our common ancestors. It should be a couple million.

[@charoleawood]

@@mokarokas-1727 Well, I understand that chimpanzees have been around much longer than modern humans. Homo sapiens has been around for about three hundred thousand years whereas Pan troglodytes has been around for about four million (wikipedia numbers here).

[@Asher-Tzvi]

Imagine the 19th century European scientists rolling in their graves now realizing that Humans came from *AFRICA*

[@cheezbiscuit4140]

Is it weird to be non-religious but still say that looking at my hominid ancestors and what they coulda been like is a spiritual as fuck experience?

[@raysalmon6566]

this video is an academic septic tank It was not only his general theory that was almost entirely lacking in any direct empirical support, but his special theory was also largely dependent on circumstantial evidence. A striking witness to this is the fact that nowhere was D arwin able to point to one bona fide case of natural selection having actually generated evolutionary change in nature, let alone having been re sponsible for the creation of a new species. A Theory in Crisis Michael Denton

[@MrMaximkozin]

like for zebras

[@vincekelly5233]

I love how everyone is just ignoring all the evolution doubters lol. Just totally not responding at all. It's actually a really good tactic. They seem to get bored and leave...

[@katyungodly]

Is like arguing with children. Is better to just not argue. "yeah yeah, sure the earth is 6000 years old, uh-huh"

[@ianinkster2261]

oh yeah!!! are you seriously suggest something something something half a wing something something still monkey, something something something, by chance. well are you/

[@ВадимВадимович-ь6т]

@@katyungodly and there was a massive flood and somehow a giant wooden boat carrying 2 of every species on earth somehow didn't fall apart. That and there was a guy who claimed to hear the word of god and he married an 8 year old and now we honor him by not eating for a month

[@S-T-E-V-E]

Perhaps they were fleeing some sort of natural disaster? The Kalkkop Meteor Crater was formed 250,000 years ago and is only about 560 miles south of the caves! It would have scared the shit out of the poor buggers! The timescale fits!

[@ciarenkruger8347]

Ooohhh now that is an interesting idea. Imagine if that were the case. That would be insane.

[@fleetskipper1810]

Yes, that would make a lot of sense if indeed it happened that way. I wonder if we will ever be able to pin it down with sufficient accuracy to prove it, which is always the problem with these speculations, but I love it nonetheless.

[@Peekaboo-Kitty]

Poor buggers? Not at all. They were vicious cannibals who practiced infanticide. They would have any problems or hesitation killing you at all!

[@Peekaboo-Kitty]

@@fleetskipper1810 It's not just "speculation." Ever heard of Forensic Science?

[@hunterG60k]

Thank you for letting us live vicariously through your experiences, I would have been absolutely awestruck as well.

[@kaijuar2003]

Evolution is so amazing, and we're still learning and discovering new things about it. Man, I love science it's the coolest topic on Earth. Reply made: 3:02 AM Thursday, September 1 2022

[@Sky_Guy_Aviation]

I lived up there for a while loved going for a hike or going down there on weekends

[@marsbase3729]

Awesome info! I love how paleontology is like a blurry telescope to the past, but the more finds we discover , the clearer the image becomes. Thanks guys for sharing your adventure! 👍😎👍

[@YaserFarid]

I think the burial started when the hominoids wanted to hide the body of a dead human because it would attract other scavengers, so when human were almost on the top of other animals and they started dying in their caves, that would have been best solution to dump the bodies in the lower cave so other animals can't get to them.

[@spyrofrost9158]

So, are the bones so deep in the cave because people lived that far in the cave? Or did they just have their bodies tossed in the hole?

[@fleetskipper1810]

That is exactly the question.

[@GaryR55]

@@fleetskipper1810 Yep. Yet to be answered....

[@mrdgenerate]

​@@GaryR55and irrelevant

[@ashwinnmyburgh9364]

Welcome to South Africa! I live in Pretoria, not far from the Cradle, and I am very happy to see you guys enjoying our country :)

[@thelostone6981]

What a time to be alive! The scientific findings have been just mind blowing; from James Webb to all these hominids! This had to have been an amazing experience and thanks for traveling there to sharing the cradle of humans (and other apes).

[@John.0z]

I get a bit of claustrophobia just watching the video. I am so impressed by those who explored those caves, and even more amazed by those ancient people.

[@fearlessjoebanzai]

... Now I need to know about the Earth 543000 years ago!

[@Brade]

What an amazing place. I've got a new place to visit now on my bucket list!

[@velvetgoldmine4300]

These videos are great! I'm so happy I was able to help fund the expedition! It's exciting both to have a fossil named after me and be in the "group photo!" I can't wait to see what's to come :)

[@JimEckhardt]

I know those caves around the cradle quite well... There are fossils all over the place there. What's interesting is that less than 100m from the cave in which Naledi was found, are a number of other small caves. One of which, myself and my caving partner can be very certain that we were the first modern visitors/ occupants in. It was quite an experience. I dearly miss the caves. PS koelenhoff (just up the road) is a monstrous cave, with a very old baboon skeleton sitting in one of the furthest chambers, across an underground Lake. So old, that it is covered in Crystal formations.

[@2degucitas]

I'm glad you made it back out! Did you see anything interesting?

[@dRac_XII]

@@2degucitas they saw a crystal baboon but if thats not good enough for you idk man

[@audreymuzingo933]

@@dRac_XII were you able to get any good photos? I want to see a crystal baboon!!!

[@dRac_XII]

@@audreymuzingo933 i didn’t go, james did

[@audreymuzingo933]

@Phoenix WTF does your stupid copy-paste have to do with caves?

[@WaterShowsProd]

Can't think what else to say other than: extraordinary. Really enjoying this series so far.

[@stevejohnson3357]

Does the name of that aboriginal group have a klick sound in it that you can practice? Anyhow, it's great to see you guys have such a good time.

[@hobarttobor686]

Considering the current state of South Africa, have we really made much progress?

[@Godzilla00X]

That so amazing you guys got to go out with a real expedition! Must have been an amazing experience

[@FishieDr]

Ooo love the new outro animation!

[@darknessdescending6695]

First comment! It's amazing that dinosaurs, Permian synapsids, and early humans are all so diverse in one place!

[@rickkwitkoski1976]

A craton is a VERY old block of earth's crust that has survived over the eons as a bit of an original crustal block. There is a large one underlying much of S. Africa so the fact that Permian, Jurassic and more recent mammalian fossils are all found in fairly close proximity is really not that amazing.

[@mokarokas-1727]

@@rickkwitkoski1976 - "Amazing" and "inexplicable" are not the same thing.

[@danielhmorgan]

congrats on getting that great experience and thanks for sharing!

[@fleetskipper1810]

You didn’t mention, or else I missed it, how old the caves that you explored during this video clip are supposed to be. And if they can date them, does the dating of the geological portion of the cave fit in with the dating of the ages of the skeletons of H. Naledi that were found? It seems as though these caves are much too far underground to have appealed to a humanid species as a refuge at the time those people lived. I can understand that they would take refuge in caves, as the baboons do. But I can’t envision them going that far underground and staying there for more than a day or so, no matter what the threat was. They would’ve needed to go into the sunlight. For that reason, perhaps it does make sense that their bodies were taken there after they died. But you said that the bones show signs that the individuals who died did so earlier than when they were dumped. What, specifically, did you mean by that? I’ve never heard such a thing explained before. Did you mean that there were teeth marks on the bones, showing that scavengers had gotten to the bones prior to when they were dumped in the cave? If you have any more information, I would be interested to hear it.

[@AmbieJoi]

Thinking the same thing. Was there maybe a human hunting creature that drug their kills into this cave?

[@professor_mayor]

Great video! Is there any reason you don't turn on closed captions though? I have trouble hearing so being able to read helps a lot!

[@PeachysMom]

I’ve got captions watching it right now?

[@professor_mayor]

@@PeachysMom Looks like they turned them on!

[@dragonfox2.058]

thanks for sharing guys! what a great experience...I'm green

[@DeanBatha]

WOW, WOW, WOW! Ben and Doug, this is why I support you on Patreon. I only wish I could have been with you on your South African trip.

[@gaemlinsidoharthi]

So much. My poor mind can’t really grasp the extent of what you’ve seen.

[@jstretch]

I can't help but think that it could be a disposal due to attracting predators or to help reduce disease spread if they where that aware at that time. Fascinating.. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us!!

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

I really love these videos and gald to learn something Hope yall have a great day

[@barrydysert2974]

Ok, now i'm jelly! Just kidding! WOW!!! What a fabulous experience for you two! Thank you for taking us there. i loved the cave rubble lain out in the shape of the cave. What a great idea !:-) 💜🙏⚡️

[@Rattafix]

When you recognize a mountain 20:31 😃😁🇿🇦 Thanks for the vid, guys

[@phaedrussmith1949]

The better question is what might be found in other sites where no one is even looking because they are too busy digging here.

[@fenrirgg]

How did they go so deep into those caves? Did they know how to use fire??

[@SebastianA.W.]

Yes. But..... yes.

[@fleetskipper1810]

New soil tends to accumulate over the top of old structures at a fairly substantial rate over hundreds of thousands of years. I’ll bet that those cave formations were not buried nearly as deep back then as they are now.

[@derekallen4568]

No! There's no evidence of them using fire in the cave system. There should be soot marks on the roof and walls of the caves. The theory is that they buried their dead but they can't figure out how they found their way in the dark.

[@ChardiB]

Excellent content lads - keep it up

[@jeremythomas8252]

Love all the creationists confusing belief with evidence based science here. I often get the same from students as a physics teacher i.e.'do you believe in the big bang?'. Well, no I don't 'believe', I accept that it is an explanation that works, follows the evidence and can be used to make useful predictions based on models that work. But it might change. And THAT is why science is exciting and still worth doing. I just hope these people never have to do jury service and have to use hard evidence rather than just what they believe about a defendant.

[@jeremythomas8252]

@@meadow-maker Because sensible and right thinking people everywhere need to call out these superstitious and dangerous beliefs. They need to know that they are wrong and that their beliefs have no place in modern society. Ignoring them is not good enough.

[@successmeditations110]

Excellent video, and so good to know you guys are still thinking of us.

[@Arrow14100]

Please use metric

[@SevenPr1me]

Please learn how to convert

[@Arrow14100]

@@SevenPr1me No, that would be an unfathomably useless wate of time. Learning and using a useless system is one of the dumbest things a person can do.

[@OakenTome]

@@Arrow14100 It’s not really a useless when a large majority of your audience is likely American.

[@Arrow14100]

@@OakenTome No, still useless. They can learn how to convert.

[@SevenPr1me]

@@Arrow14100 unfathomable waste of time? Not only is that statement blatantly hyperbolic, conversion is incredibly easy to learn

[@pruephillip1338]

This is probably NOT any 'cradle' of mankind, but rather that we have found so many fossils here.

[@robertolesen5782]

I got a vicarious thrill walking through those caves, I’ve read so much about with you ! You guys really are world class and deserve VIP status and treatment.

[@jessemiller7540]

Really neat. Your excitement is infectious.

[@mrdgenerate]

Wearing masks outside in 2023 holy crap

[@johnshields6852]

I kinda ironic we know much more about animals that lived 100's of millions of years ago but our own history only a few million years old is so elusive, countless dinosaur bones, fossils but very few human ancestor fossils, to me it shows the intelligence of early man, not being swept up in floods or walking into bogs and sinkholes, animals often wander in these precarious situations where humans avoided.

[@julicaru4812]

That was amazing guys ! Thanks for taking us with you , I can only imagine what it must have been like to stand in the Naledi caves , what a thing ! All the best Jules

[@therealzilch]

Lucky you. Africa is wonderful. About zebras- my wife and I spent the night at the edge of a tent encampment near the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. We were told to only go in pairs to the toilet because baboons and elephants could be dangerous. When we were awakened after midnight by strange sounds outside our tent, we were a bit nervous. Looking cautiously out the tent flap, we saw two zebras not six feet away, munching down grass and giving exactly zero fucks about us. Great reporting as usual. But since I spent years debating Creationists, I must wonder: did Homo naledi have a soul? Inquiring minds want to know. cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott

[@fleetskipper1810]

If they were self-aware, and I suspect that they were. Then they had souls.

[@therealzilch]

@@fleetskipper1810 I guess it depends on what a "soul" is, if anything.

[@lindagusch2671]

Of course they have souls!!

[@GaryR55]

Could the zebras' forelimb callouses be from mating? The males would be standing on their hind legs, supporting themselves with their forelegs embracing their mate during copulation. Just a thought....

[@unstoppableExodia]

Wow South Africa is where I was born and lived until I was seven years old. I had no idea it had such a wealth of paleontological finds. Even more reason to wanna visit there ASAP. That natural history museum looks like a place worth visiting

[@prla5400]

This is really wonderful stuff.

[@SilverDawnArrow]

Zebra! My sister was very excited when she saw them in Zambia

[@feral7523]

I wonder was it a case of us(Humans) being the most violent-territorial-willing to eat our cousins that allowed us to out survive all the rest?

[@markjones5608]

I have dug up 13 of these species and have them on display in the front yard around Halloween.

[@mokarokas-1727]

Scares the crap out of creationists. lol

[@drewstar412]

Ben probably said, "I found a new species down here!" When everyone ask where? Ben points to Doug! lol...poor Doug! We Luv you!