(290) Homo naledi was our australopithecine ancestor

Basic Dimension

https://sexualreligion.blogspot.com

Number Archive

We have written a lot on this blog about the possible interbreeding between Homo naledi and Homo erectus. Finally, they lived together for 2 million years in Africa. But we missed a good theoretical entrance. But in his latest interview Prof. dr. Dr. Lee Berger said that possibly Homo naledi could be our ancient ancestor. Thinking about that means Homo erectus delivered the body to Homo sapiens and the enlarged skull, but Homo naledi brought in the hands, wrists, feet and legs. So the most modern features came from Homo naledi (Australopithecus) and the psychotic brain from Homo erectus. So we have common sense convert.

Homo naledi

PROF. DR. LEE BERGER: ANOTHER MAJOR HOMININ DISCOVERY COMING. IT'S NOT SEDIBA, IT'S NOT NALEDI, COULD BE PARANTHROPUS ROBUSTUS (AUSTRALOPITHECUS). BTW, THEY FOUND ALSO NEW HOMO NALEDI REMAINS, PLACED INTO NICHES IN THE WALLS OF CAVES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Q3EGYI78M

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2219742-lee-berger-we-have-made-another-major-discovery-about-early-humans/

The discovery of Homo naledi by Prof. dr. Lee Berger has been vital for our understanding of the development of human religion. We can't discuss Homo naledi without mentioning his name. But he has no relationship with this blog.


LEE BERGER: WAS HOMO NALEDI OUR 
 AUSTRALOPITHECINE ANCESTOR?

This allows us to establish a nearly direct connection between Homo naledi and Homo sapiens, which means that the modern features of Homo naledi can be transferred to Homo sapiens via Homo erectus. BTW, Homo naledi and Homo erectus lived together for two million years:

Our former conclusion:

We think Homo naledi was definitely an inbred population. They may have had some introgressive hybridization on a low DNA level, which however did not cause their modern hands, wrists, legs and feet. Their wrists and feet were more advanced than Homo erectus, while Homo naledi lived too far in the North of Africa. So, no systematic introgressive hybridization with Homo erectus and Homo sapiens is to be expected.

However, Homo naledi and Homo erectus were two million years contemporaries. So introgression can certainly be assumed. So, we are making a mistake above.

Above conclusion was as if Homo erectus delivered the advanced characteristics to Homo naledi, but that's wrong, it is the other way around.

So, what if Homo naledi delivered the advanced features to Homo erectus? What if Homo naledi brought in the advanced legs, arms, hands, wrists and feet? The other way around?

Then we better forget about convergent evolution, as if Homo naledi converged to advanced features like Homo sapiens, simply by adaptation to the environment:

Assumption 398: Homo naledi theoretically can have been an extremely inbred population without much contact with modern hominins. But still, they can have developed human characteristics by convergent evolution:

It must be remarked convergent evolution would also have given Homo erectus these Homo sapiens characteristics. But that did not happen. Maybe as Lee Berger suggests, Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens, a shocking insight. So, maybe Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend.

Assumption 470: Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend. Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens. Homo naledi interbred with Homo erectus and delivered the advanced extremities as modern legs, hands, wrists and feet. 





Homo erectus brought in his retarded cauliflower brain which caused him to seriously derailed into magical religion, in which he sexually terrorized the females. So, there must have been two breeding lines of Homo erectus, with and without advanced features from Homo naledi.

Then we must redraw our predecessor line. Maybe we have to split Homo erectus into two subspecies, like chimps and bonobos from Panini or like political correctness and non-pc from Homo sapiens:

So, the point is we must reverse our way of thinking:

Homo erectus is the retarded species and Homo naledi is the advanced species, just what this blog always said. The brain from Homo naledi was the natural rational brain to survive in the horrible African nights with only wooden spears and ropes. On the other hand Homo erectus got an absurdly enlarged cauliflower brain, comparable with the senseless teeth from sable tooth tigers. This psychotic brain was meant for magical thinking for males to intimidate females with absurd sexual rules, as if coming from God.

So introgression between Homo naledi and Homo erectus may have laid the foundation for homo sapiens:

(144) Homo naledi, the raped species
(145) Homo naledi, the inferior species
(190) Australopithecus interbred with Homo sapiens?

(289) Homo naledi: Inbreeding caused no mole behavior

Basic Dimension

https://sexualreligion.blogspot.com

Number Archive

LEE BERGER: WAS HOMO NALEDI OUR 
AUSTRALOPITHECINE ANCESTOR?

Inbreeding was a candidate for the remarkable behavior of Homo naledi in the Rising Star Cave. Inbreeding is so clearly a reason for the burials in Dinaledi chamber, that it's falsification must be written down as not to be forgotten.

What scenario fits Homo naledi?

I have done a lot of thinking about the reason for the Homo naledi burials in the Rising Star Cave. But my best scenario is proven wrong, as follows:

Inbreeding scenario:

Homo naledi was an inbreeding culture, which suffered from a declining birth rate, as a result of which they begged the God of Darkness for a greater number of births.

But:

- 1: Although Homo naledi was an inbreeding culture, the population survived for already two million years as a genetically balanced species. So, eventual autosomal recessive disorders would have wiped out the population much earlier.

- 2: Inbred populations often experience fertility stress from higher child mortality. But infants were not disproportionately overrepresented in Dinaledi chamber.

- 3: Disabled infants and adults could not have been buried. But then we would expect some visible shortcomings in the other bones as well that were buried. And furthermore there might be fewer infants in the chamber.

So, this scenario looks not viable. This means the Dinaledi burials must have had another reason. There may have been fertility stress for entirely different reasons, such as famine. 

If there was no external threat causing Homo naledi's mole behavior, we can live with the religious hypothesis alone: creating an optimal rebirth situation as close as possible to the God of Darkness as deep as possible in the ground.

Our reasoning: Something catastrophically happened

One way or another is the behavior from Homo naledi explained by a declining birth rate, for which they were looking for a solution that was not effective.

We imply the following:

- Normally Homo naledi buried their death in the ground expecting they would be reborn into the wombs of Homo naledi females.

- But then something went wrong and their birth rate declined. They may have suffered from autosomal recessive disorders, though they existed already for two million years and their dead in Dinaledi chamber were a cross-section of the population. So, it could be something else, a contagious disease for example, or a shortage of food or something else.

- Anyway, their remedy was to accelerate the number of births to prevent extinction of the tribe, or the species.

- Then, as in a scientific experiment, they tried something completely new as an emergency measure to beg the God of Darkness for help. We need the word 'scientific' to ensure the military operation of perfect precision they needed to reach their goal. They measured the underground tunnels with grass ropes from standard length and set up a lot of other rules to prevent catastrophes.

- So, the burial as deep and dark as in Dinaledi chamber was an advanced and well organized project. Homo naledi must have faced major problems in bringing this to a successful conclusion. They combined all knowledge and experience organizing this process in an almost scientific manner, like we went to the Moon. And that's why they were a very clever and very intelligent species. Furthermore, they must have been very social, very empathically and good in organizing big events, just like us.

INBREEDING CULTURE

There is no proof yet that Homo naledi was an inbred population, only there is circumstantial evidence. We have to wait for DNA analysis and Paleo Proteomics (see below).

How to decide to an inbreeding culture:

- We can objectively state whoever is deliberately in a grave together with others also formed a close group during life: So, Homo naledi probably was a close group. 

- It seems that members buried in Dinaledi chamber came from an entire community. They probably were not limited to a single family. Then we speak from a closed society.

- Individuals who are not massively buried together, but separated as families, we call a more open society.

- The difference between open and closed groups is from fundamental importance for human cultures:

- Further we can objectively state that because these individuals looked all the same, they apparently formed a genetically balanced species, just like a balanced dog race.

- This means they must have formed a closed group over already a very long period, definitely over many generations. This looks like an inbred population, while an open group looks more like an outcrossed group.

- During this period of maybe thousands of years it is unlikely that they have been systematically bred with other species. Earlier there was perhaps hybridization between this Australopithecus and more advanced species, but not recently.

- But the hypothesis of early introgressive hybridization (introgression) gives us a formidable problem, because Homo naledi shows features to hands, wrists, legs and feet, which are more advanced than Homo erectus. So, though they were contemporaries from Homo erectus for two million years, they were more advanced at some points. This means they did not have interbred with Homo erectus on a large scale systematically. (This is a wrong conclusion).

- Further, interbreeding with Homo sapiens (350 Ka) could be processed into this balanced species for over a period of about 100,000 years. But systematic hybridization with Homo sapiens is very unlikely, because Homo sapiens has been found in North Africa and Homo naledi in South Africa, both with very small numbers, as usual.

- So, we must reject mass hybridization with Homo erectus (wrong) and Homo sapiens. 

- Then we are left with convergent evolution from hands and feet from Homo naledi, alike modern Homo sapiens.

- So, until results from Paleo Proteomics we don't need to postulate any interbreeding at all.

- Then we are inclined to conclude Homo naledi to a pure inbred population starting from around or before Homo habilis.

- If this is correct, it will have great consequences. Homo naledi could be the principal archaic line of hominids/hominin development. Then their modern features are from convergent evolution with later species that descend from them.

- But it's illogical there wouldn't have been any incidental interbreeding with Homo naledi in the evolution. But this can not be seen from the bones, only from DNA and Paleo Proteomics.

                                                                                                                                                  

Palaeoproteomics:

We must wait on Paleo Proteomics to unravel the origins of Homo naledi:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01986-x

Deep in the hominin’s teeth, proteins lingered, degraded but still identifiable. When scientists analysed them earlier this year, they detected collagen, a structural support protein found in bone and other tissues. And in its chemical signature was a single amino-acid variant that isn’t present in the collagen of modern humans or Neanderthals — instead, it flagged the jawbone as belonging to a member of the mysterious hominin group called Denisovans. It was the first time that an ancient hominin had been identified using only proteins.

                                                                                                                                

- So, we postulate introgressive hybridization for Homo naledi only on a low DNA level.

- It is not proof but we are inclined to see Homo naledi as an inbred population with a sufficiently diverse genome to avoid autosomal recessive disorders.

It must be remarked convergent evolution would also give Homo erectus these Homo sapiens characteristics on feet, hands, legs and wrists. Maybe as Lee Berger suggests, Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens, a shocking insight. So, maybe Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend, but that's pure speculation.

What supports the inbreeding theory of Homo naledi:

-  The close group from Dinaledi chamber looks more like a closed group than a dispersed bunch of outbred people looking all differently.

- We know there were never more than 24,000 breeding pairs of bipedal primates in evolution and secondly, Africa is an immense large continent. With so few people on that large continent it is certainly possible for Homo naledi to avoid other species. So, we can fairly assume that Homo naledi formed a closed group. 

- But above statement is not in accordance with the facts, because it seems Homo naledi did put a great effort not letting others approach their dead. And without intruders from other Homo naledi tribes or other species they did not need to hide their dead like that.  And so much effort keeping out their own kind does not sound reasonable. So, they probably feared Homo erectus.

- But what we call 'hiding' may also be meant to come as near as possible to the God of Darkness, without fear for intruders. So there possibly were no intruders.

- Anyway, until now we are inclined to conclude to the following: Homo naledi formed a close and probably closed inbreeding group, which stayed together after death and who all looked the same. They apparently hidden their dead from hostile other groups in the surroundings, possibly meaning the group was in permanent danger. But the latter is not yet clear.

Conclusion:

We think Homo naledi was definitely an inbred population. They may have had some (wrong) introgressive hybridization on a low DNA level, which however did not cause their modern hands, wrists, legs and feet. Their wrists and feet were more advanced than Homo erectus and Homo naledi lived too far in North Africa. So, no systematic introgressive hybridization with Homo erectus and Homo sapiens is to be expected. 

Assumption 398: Homo naledi theoretically can have been an extremely inbred population without much contact with modern hominins. But still, they can have developed human characteristics by convergent evolution.

It must be remarked convergent evolution would also have given Homo erectus these Homo sapiens characteristics. So convergent evolution is not the solution. Maybe as Lee Berger suggests, Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens, a shocking insight. So, maybe Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend, but that's pure speculation:

LEE BERGER: WAS HOMO NALEDI OUR 
AUSTRALOPITHECINE ANCESTOR?

This allows us to establish a nearly direct connection between Homo naledi and Homo sapiens, which means that the modern features of Homo naledi can be transferred to Homo sapiens via Homo erectus. BTW, Homo naledi and Homo erectus lived together for two million years:

Assumption 470: Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend. Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens. Homo naledi interbred with Homo erectus and delivered the advanced extremities as modern legs, hands, wrists and feet:

Homo erectus brought in his retarded cauliflower brain which caused him to seriously derailed into magical religion, in which he sexually terrorized the females. So, there must have been two breeding lines of Homo erectus, with and without advanced features from Homo naledi.

We have written a lot on this blog about the possible interbreeding between Homo naledi and Homo erectus:





But we missed a good theoretical entrance. But in this latest interview Prof. Dr. Lee Berger said that possibly Homo naledi could be our ancient ancestor. Thinking about that means Homo erectus delivered the body to Homo sapiens with the enlarged skull, but Homo naledi brought in the hands, wrists, feet and legs. So the most modern features came from Homo naledi and the psychotic brain from Homo erectus:

But then we have to redraw our diagram:

Although inbreeding is not seen any longer as a cause of the burials in Dinaledi chamber, inbreeding can have something to do with contagiousness for illnesses from other species, against which they had no physical resistance, although they lived together already for two million years. In the end we can live with the hypothesis that only their belief in rebirth was the cause for burying their dead in Dinaledi chamber, possibly enhanced by fertility stress.

(288) Homo naledi: Was rebirth sustainable?

Basic Dimension

https://sexualreligion.blogspot.com

Number Archive

THIS BLOG SOLVES HONOR KILLINGS AND GIVES THE EXACT FORMULA OF HUMAN RELIGION

GOOGLE TRANSLATES INTO YOUR 

OWN LANGUAGE, E.G. ARABIC:

https://sexualreligion.blogspot.com

HOMO NALEDI IS THE BRIDGE BETWEEN ANIMAL RELIGION AND HUMAN RELIGION

Homo naledi

PROF. DR. LEE BERGER: ANOTHER MAJOR HOMININ DISCOVERY COMING. IT'S NOT SEDIBA, IT'S NOT NALEDI (7:17), COULD BE PARANTHROPUS ROBUSTUS (AUSTRALOPITHECUS). BTW, THEY FOUND ALSO NEW HOMO NALEDI REMAINS, PLACED INTO NICHES IN THE WALLS OF CAVES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Q3EGYI78M

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2219742-lee-berger-we-have-made-another-major-discovery-about-early-humans/

Paleo Proteomics (10:30).
What if Homo naledi actually cracked that code of how to be smart with a small brain (19:31).

The discovery of Homo naledi by Prof. dr. Lee Berger has been vital for our understanding of the development of human religion. We can't discuss Homo naledi without mentioning his name. But he has no relationship with this blog.

LEE BERGER: WAS HOMO NALEDI OUR 
AUSTRALOPITHECINE ANCESTOR?

This allows us to establish a nearly direct connection between Homo naledi and Homo sapiens, which means that the modern features of Homo naledi (2:58) can be transferred to Homo sapiens via Homo erectus. BTW, Homo naledi and Homo erectus lived together for two million years. Well, then there must have been two subspecies of Homo erectus, because Berger says that Homo erectus does not have the modern and advanced characteristics of Homo naledi. So, we miss an advanced subspecies from Homo erectus:

Assumption 470: Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend. Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens. Homo naledi interbred with Homo erectus and delivered the advanced extremities as modern legs, hands, wrists and feet:

Homo erectus brought in his retarded cauliflower brain which caused him to seriously derailed into magical religion, in which he sexually terrorized the females. So, there must have been two breeding lines of Homo erectus, with and without advanced features from Homo naledi.

                                                                                                                                                  

Palaeoproteomics:

We must wait on Paleo Proteomics to unravel the origins of Homo naledi:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01986-x

Deep in the hominin’s teeth, proteins lingered, degraded but still identifiable. When scientists analysed them earlier this year, they detected collagen, a structural support protein found in bone and other tissues. And in its chemical signature was a single amino-acid variant that isn’t present in the collagen of modern humans or Neanderthals — instead, it flagged the jawbone as belonging to a member of the mysterious hominin group called Denisovans. It was the first time that an ancient hominin had been identified using only proteins.

Homo naledi cracked human religion

The religion of Homo naledi is midway between animal religion and human religion. And we are astonished how little difference there is between animals with their Alpha male and humans with God. If we want to understand honor killings we better first understand Homo naledi. This, because the transitions between rebirth, reincarnation and resurrection are characteristic for human religion and the cause of honor killings. Honor killings and the formula of human religion are the subject of this blog:

All religion starts with genetic immortality:

Assumption 472: Genetic immortality (without soul) is animal religion and is living forth in the genes of the offspring, while the individual dies. Reincarnation is exactly the same religion (but now with a soul), in which the individual reincarnates into descendants. Because of the nearly identical link with animal religion, reincarnation is the strongest human religion, which will survive all the others with the soul. Atheism (without soul) is identical to genetic immortality and is purely animal religion. In the end atheism will survive all human religions.

Human religion not only developed through progressive abstraction of religious concepts, but also into the direction of the most attractive afterlife. In all cases, coming to life again in the own family appears to be most powerful. That's why Reincarnation by Inbreeding in the end will win from Resurrection in Heaven. The former is an instinct while the last is imposed on the people to block inbreeding.

Assumption 473: Reincarnation and Genetic Immortality is coming to life in a different body, while Resurrection and Rebirth are revival in the own body, sounding somewhat weird and unreal. This means Reincarnation will survive Resurrection. Also, in the Muslim faith 'Reincarnation into descendants of cousin marriages' will survive 'Resurrection in the parallel universe from Allah'. This only for Arab and Asian Muslims who still possess the inbreeding instinct.

Graphic representations differ due to the purpose of display. The above diagram is about 'choice' in the afterlife. Rebirth and resurrection lie against each other because they have much in common. Both come to life again in their own body.

To be clear, both reincarnation (with a soul) by inbreeding and outcrossing are derivatives from genetic immortality (without soul). But reincarnation by outcrossing is the natural successor of genetic immortality (outbreeding) and developed out of quadrupedal primates (chimps). On the other hand 'reincarnation through inbreeding' developed in a straight line from bipedal primates, the hominids (inbreeding):

We conclude that genetic immortality from the animal world is still the main religious drive for humans. Human religion is only sublimated into mystical formulations. Further, only bipedal primates (no animals) were able to implement sadomasochism in sexual relationships. Furthermore, humans disguised male sexual lust in a cloud from muttered statements to grant authority to their desire to impress the females, where they lacked any persuasiveness by sexual bravado alone.



With rebirth from Homo naledi the individual had nothing to choose. He was manipulated as a foetus into the womb of a Homo naledi woman. Only the still alive thought they had a choice by choosing Dinaledi chamber:

But with resurrection the individual can already choose to come to heaven by choosing the proper faith and behavior, although this is not much 'choice' compared to 'reincarnation through inbreeding'. 

Simply, because with reincarnation through inbreeding Muslim males are their own god, who themselves determine their afterlife and so they need no Allah:



This means cousin marriages hide an enormous unconscious conflict between Inbreeding (SR) and Islam (HR), Human Religion and Sexual Religion (HR= f(SR)), which forms the basis for honor killings.

Given the evolutionary religious development in general, we see 'resurrection' came after 'reincarnation'. This, because Homo erectus (2.2 Mya; 900cc) developed reincarnation and only much later Homo sapiens (350 Ka; 1400cc) conceptualized the parallel universe. Desert Religions (4000 years ago) installed resurrection to make 'inbreeding for reincarnation' obsolete, since in heaven offspring from inbreeding makes no sense any longer. 

The last thing to note is that in the evolution brain content has a major impact on the development of abstract religious concepts. But brain content cannot explain developments in a small segment of time. For example, little or no change in brain content can be expected for Homo naledi around the excavations from 236,000 to 335,000 years ago.

But due to the minimal population of this tribe, random fluctuations in religious perception are very well conceivable. And that's why the religious insights of Homo naledi in South Africa can still surprise us. 

So we can expect random trafficking around the border from soul to no soul. Some tribes already went over to reincarnation, while others just regressed to rebirth again.  Maybe this point of inflection of the soul will surprise us in the future. Did we hit the conversion point from animal to human religion?

But ... I would be really astonished if Homo naledi went over the edge of the animal world (no soul) into the human world (soul), though I think they were already human beings. If we would find a closed grave, closed with a stone, that would mark the end of rebirth (no soul) and the beginning of reincarnation (soul):

Assumption 399: Believing in the soul (reincarnation) means that the body is not that important and that the grave is closed with a stone, through which the soul can escape into another person. So, the crucial difference is whether the grave is open or closed. The burial chamber of Dinaledi Chamber was open. Not the soul but the body had to be able to leave the cave. Also, Naledi Chamber and Lesedi Chamber had the entrance as exit.





If we find this absurd calibration around the soul then also species with a small brain accepted magical thinking. But as said before, small tribes in a cross-section of time and evolution can cause random fluctuations that need not be permanent.


Below is a collage of the religious development of all humanity:





Homo naledi and the Underworld

Homo naledi tells us we must reconsider human religion completely from animal religion, where natural concepts about death and the afterlife (sleeping forever) already evolved:




This means all options are on the table and even if Homo naledi did not accept the soul, his life was not over after death. His life went on in the Underworld and he became a young Homo naledi in the rebound, a rebirth in his own body, given by the God of Darkness, who lived deep under the ground, deep in the Underworld. The possibility that primitive people may have thought from the perspective of animals makes rebirth of Homo naledi in the Rising Star Cave conceivable.


'Rebirth without soul' is the first really human religious stage

The idea that all life comes from the soil, is more than animal, it is already human. It is the realization of the circular process of pumping life out of the ground. It is here that human philosophy took control over religion. It is the Underworld which is life giving and it is the God of Darkness who needs to be worshipped. Only much later God evolved into Heaven, into the Upperworld.

Already here, very early in the religious evolution Australopiths must have realized they could be reborn into plants or whatever. They would be worried about not being reborn in their own kind. 

They also would practice bestiality to see whether this would give powerful descendants. All things reserved for the human race must have been practiced many millions of years earlier. Well, if you believe in rebirth, this is another reason not to bury animals with humans together in Dinaledi chamber.

The assumption of the existence of the soul indicates the fundamental religious difference between hominids and hominins. It also separates autistic, rationally thinking from psychotic, magical thinking: 

Homo naledi was a rational thinker with a small brain

The first bipedal hominids were not magical thinkers as we are. In kinda bipedal mutation they walked upright and thought rationally at the same time, though it actually took them millions of years* . In daytime they survived on the savannas with wooden spears against feline predators and must have known how to make ropes with knots.

* https://www.foxnews.com/science/ancient-upright-ape-that-had-human-legs-discovered-by-scientists 

The remains of an 11 million-year-old ape suggest that our ancestors started to stand upright millions of years earlier, according to scientists.

Maybe bipedality itself was the groundshaking mutation, which gave Australopiths their primitive but rational brain. Later hominins developed an excessive number of nerve cells in their frontal lobe to circumvent reality by magical conclusions, like 'religion'. They invented the soul and reincarnation, what low brain Australopiths probably did not.

Assumption 410: Homo naledi can be called 'a late hominid'. Bipedal hominids survived for seven million years with their vulnerable bodies against feline predators. Without a sharp and rational brain, they would not have survived. From the moment they left the trees they must have used wooden spears to defend themselves. They were not stupid at all, although they must have functioned at a low level of rationality.

They did not throw sticks at predators like stupid chimps, but crawled together and under loudly screaming, they attacked their predators with sharp pointed spears. Four adult hominids effectively used eight spears. The first were thrown in a targeted way. The rest was kept as defense. There was no other effective strategy. Injured felines were doomed, because they had to catch another prey within a few days. So, it's not that felines could not catch a hominid this way, but more they didn't take the risk to be wounded.

Only we think hominids were stupid animals, which always fled into the trees. But that happened only at nights, cause African nights are a nightmare without fire. But in daytime felines climbed into the low trees of the savanna faster than hominids. So, fleeing into the trees during the day would have been a losing game and great apes simply did not have enough offspring to lose them to all kinds of predators. Then they would have gone extinct already seven million years ago. 

So, in about a million years, the first bipedal hominids must have learned walking upright and becoming rationally thinking creatures, as kinda bipedal mutation. This is the only way they could have survived with their 'fertility stress':




Homo naledi was an empathic being

Homo naledi was an empathic civilized species, who believed in rebirth without soul, it was rebirth out of the soil, just like plants:

Assumption 406: 'Rebirth without soul' is just a rational analogy from the life cycle of plants. It is not magical thinking, it is just the wrong analogy. Rebirth has no free will. It does not have a soul in the afterlife, which offers the deceased to reincarnate into the tribe of their choice.

Assumption 382: Rebirth without soul.
All life comes from the soil, all plants, all fruits come from the ground. So, also human life must enter the womb of women through the soil. Well, of course, Australopiths knew about sexual cause and effect, but did not understand how everything came to growth and to life. They concluded, it must be the Underworld which is life giving. Bipedal primates saw this happening every day. And deep in the ground - in the Underworld - lived their God of Darkness, the guardian of all life. It is Him who puts the reborn into the womb of women. That's why Homo naledi sought the deepest places for 'rebirth without soul'.

Assumption 505: Inbred cultures from Australopithecus had fertility stress, because great apes don't get many offspring. And living on the ground bipedal primates needed a lot of individuals to survive. They noted sexual intercourse not always resulted into offspring. That's why they concluded the God of Darkness had to be worshipped to get rebirths into the womb.

Open and closed graves

With rebirth, caves must be kept open (Dinaledi chamber), to let reborn foetuses leave the cave. But in case of reincarnation, graves were closed, because the soul went easily through the walls:



Assumption 399: Believing in the soul (reincarnation) means that the body is not that important and that the grave is closed with a stone, through which the soul can escape into another person. So, the crucial difference is whether the grave is open or closed. The burial chamber of Dinaledi Chamber was open. Not the soul but the body had to be able to leave the cave. Also, Naledi Chamber and Lesedi Chamber had the entrance as exit. So, Homo naledi knew where reborn left the cave for conception. With the exit under control they prevented their ancestors from getting lost and reborn into Homo erectus tribes:



Of course Homo naledi realized the cave was not closed. That's why no precious burial gifts were given to the deceased. They clearly didn't want to attract thieves. This means, Homo Naledi was not alone and there might be enemies around. Another reason not to give burial gifts is that they never saw babies born with a hand ax. So, Homo naledi was fully aware of what he was doing.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-naledi-your-most-recently-discovered-human-relative.html This is another of the mysteries associated with this species.Homo naledi's hands and wrists were well-suited to tool making but no stone tools have yet been found associated with its fossils. 

Assumption 377: The Rising Star Cave was chosen for 'rebirth without soul' just because of its inaccessibility. Reborn creatures on their way to the womb left the cave with the same route as they came in. Only they knew the way to Dinaledi Chamber. Had Dinaledi Chamber been more accessible through a now disappeared entrance, Homo naledi had probably rejected this cave for rebirth without soul. Then, it was only usable for reincarnation or resurrection of the soul. The soul cannot be harmed by intruders and is able to pass blocked chambers.

Homo naledi rejected "the soul" as utterly nonsense as he also rejected magical thinking as reincarnation from Homo erectus and more of that stuff as resurrection from Homo sapiens. Notice, rebirth from Homo naledi was not into another body, like reincarnation, but revival within their own original body, we would say from their own DNA, what, of course, is a fallacy. Rebirth looks a bit like resurrection from Muslims in heaven, but that's with a soul, a fundamental and magical difference with Homo naledi:

Assumption 386: The difference between rebirth and reincarnation is that in rebirth the own body of flesh and blood revives.

Assumption 404: Rebirth and resurrection.

Rebirth is the complete renewal of the DNA of a dead person into a foetus, complete with long telomeres (Homo naledi). Resurrection is the revival of a dead person in his last appearance (Christianity, Jesus). Islam mixes rebirth (repairing DNA completely) with resurrection (reinstating the last stage) into some parallel universe.


The religious crisis from Homo naledi

The burials in Dinaledi Chamber and Lesedi Chamber might have been a desperate experiment, because at some point in the evolution also Homo naledi must have realized that rebirth did not give the deceased enough possibilities to choose where to come alive again (not into a Homo erectus womb).

Because bones from the deceased did not disappear from the floor of Dinaledi Chamber, revolutionary young Homo naledi radicals questioned the rebirth theory, on which the older guard stuffed all sorts of body parts into deep cracks in the ground of Dinaledi Chamber to get as close as possible to the God of Darkness, which finally gave rebirth. Well, anything can have happened, don't ask me, for I was not there, at last.

Assumption 381:
The concept of 'rebirth without soul' led within a very short time to insurmountable problems, being self-determination in the afterlife. Homo naledi (2.3 Ma - 2.36 ka) was well aware of this dilemma. Also, Homo erectus (2.12 Ma; 900cc) realized that rebirth or reincarnation needed a soul to be able to choose in what tribe ancestors wanted to be alive again. That is the reason of the soul. Self-determination in the afterlife with retention of self-identity.

Rebirth was not a general one-off process. Wherever human religion newly developed after it first fell back to more animal-like religion, rebirth occurred again as an intermediate phase. So, many different Homo naledi tribes could have believed in rebirth separately and repeatedly. Even resurrection from Desert Religions can be seen as a questionable kind of remake from rebirth, though with a soul.

Assumption 400: The most brilliant contribution of Homo naledi to the evolution theory is that even if Homo erectus raped his females, the God of Darkness nevertheless would put Homo naledi ancestors into their wombs. The problem with this theory is that it can be checked and later on led to the downfall of Homo naledi as a culture.

Maybe Dinaledi chamber was meant to reduce fertility stress, but the number of births naturally did not increase from 'rebirth':



We could see rebirth in Dinalidi Chamber as a scientific experiment with a chance on falsification of rebirth. Then Dinaledi Chamber could have convinced Homo naledi to switch from rebirth to reincarnation. This because reincarnation was known for so long by Homo erectus, who they already knew for two million years. So, all in all, Dinaledi Chamber may have been a turning point in the religion of Homo naledi, from just this specific Homo naledi tribe...


Homo naledi looks like a completely balanced inbred population

In the evolution Homo naledi has become a completely balanced race, apparently caused by long sustained inbreeding with a richly varied genome to counter autosomal recessive disorders.

Assumption 376: Tribal rebirth means the conservation of group identity if reborn are former ancestors. This emphasizes group identity from inbred cultures. Otherwise it would concern hybrids. In the case of outbreeding cultures the identity of reborn is not important and hybrids from other tribes are welcomed. This means outbreeding cultures will bury their dead simply in the ground. And because Homo naledi protected the bodies of the deceased fanatically, we decide them to be an inbred culture.

Assumption 398: Homo naledi theoretically can have been an extremely inbred population without much contact with modern hominins. But still, they can have developed human characteristics by convergent evolution.

We think Homo naledi was definitely an inbred population. They may have had some introgressive hybridization on a low DNA level, which however did not cause their modern hands, wrists, legs and feet. Their wrists and feet were more advanced than Homo erectus and Homo naledi lived too far in North Africa. So, no systematic introgressive hybridization with Homo erectus and Homo sapiens is to be expected. 

It must be remarked convergent evolution would also give Homo erectus these Homo sapiens characteristics. Maybe as Lee Berger suggests, Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens, a shocking insight. So, maybe Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend, but that's pure speculation. 

In Dinaledi chamber, Homo naledi pursued two things: Control over the reborn at the exit and the greatest possible chance of rebirth, being as deep and close as possible near the God of Darkness.

Our conclusion until now is that Homo naledi may have practiced an extreme form of inbreeding, resulting in a declining number of births (fertility stress), which gave rise to bury as deeply as possible in order to optimally please the God of Darkness to increase the number of rebirths. Or this eccentric Homo naledi tribe was simply a cult with an extreme line of thought.

Maybe Homo naledi looked a bit like modern humans only by convergent evolution since Homo habilis. Previous rapes by Homo erectus or Homo sapiens may have driven them to despair, though in Dinaledi Chamber and Lesedi Chamber they still all looked the same. So, there is no indication of a sudden mixing of species. But they may have buried only pure Homo naledi specimens in Dinaledi chamber and no hybrids, which may have been killed after birth.

- But of course, it is illogical there has not taken place any incidental interbreeding. But this can not be seen from the bones, only from DNA and Paleo Proteomics.

- So, we postulate incidental introgressive hybridization (introgression) for Homo naledi on a very low DNA level.

But eventually they may have switched to reincarnation too, whereupon also them closed their graves. Another reason to go over on reincarnation could have been the realization that bones did not disappear as expected by changing into foetuses. 

But maybe they thought the God of Darkness needed only a tiny piece of flesh or bone to create a person's rebirth:

Assumption 387: If Homo naledi believed in rebirth, then the God of Darkness in Dinaledi Chamber needed no whole dead bodies, for just a tiny piece of flesh and a single bone were sufficient to reconstruct an invisible tiny reborn for the womb of Homo naledi females. It might be that important individuals were buried completely, like Neo.

So, a smaller but more natural brain led to rational thinking without the psychotic derangement from magical thinking as reincarnation or resurrection, which needs a soul to be imagined. On the other hand, magically thinking led to the idea of ​​the parallel universe long before our mathematical formulas confirmed their possible existence:




Bipedal hominins developed from rational to magical thinking

So, contrary to common sense, bipedal hominins did not develop from magical thinking (small brain) to rational thinking (larger brain) but the other way around. That's to say the first hominids needed no fantasy to imagine absurd magical thinking. Because, for their survival they were desperately dependent on rational thinking. Later in the evolution, magical thinking has been added to the enlarging brain, while at the same time rational thinking is expanded in the frontal cortex.

The tragically cauliflower brain from human beings

The cauliflower brain development from later humans was a proliferation that no longer kept pace with reality. All sorts of absurd connections between logically non-linkable neurons led to irresistible humor as well as wonderful 'religion'. That's how human religion became the magical disguise of male sexuality in HR = f(SR), only meant to mislead females who placed no authority whatsoever into plain male sexuality, unless males pretended that their absurd sexual rules came from God and were called 'religion'.



https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-naledi-your-most-recently-discovered-human-relative.html

Small but human-like brain.Recent research, published in the journal PNAS in 2018, examined imprints Homo naledi's brain made on its skull. The findings, say the authors, indicate that the evolution of brain size in humans was not a simple pattern of gradual increase over time.
The team found that, despite the difference in size, the structure of Homo naledi's frontal lobe was similar to that of other human species rather than that of non-human hominins or great apes.
Other parts of the brain also showed human-like changes compared to more primitive australopithecines with a similar brain size.
The authors point out that the areas of the brain found to be similar to other humans have been implicated in the evolution of tool use, language and social behaviour and may mean Homo naledi shared some behaviours present in other humans, despite a much smaller brain size.
This article includes information from Our Human Story by Dr Louise Humphrey and Prof Chris Stringer.

Psychotic delusions as reincarnation and resurrection

This all means, Homo naledi was a mentally healthy and rationally thinking humanlike being without the characteristic psychosis, which would later lead to honor killings by Homo sapiens. This is because the last got entangled into two sorts of psychotic delusions: reincarnation and resurrection.


LEE BERGER: WAS HOMO NALEDI OUR 
AUSTRALOPITHECINE ANCESTOR?

We have written a lot on this blog about the possible interbreeding between Homo naledi and Homo erectus:





But we missed a good theoretical entrance. But in this latest interview Prof. dr. Dr. Lee Berger said that possibly Homo naledi could be our ancient ancestor. Thinking about that means Homo erectus delivered the body to Homo sapiens with the enlarged skull, but Homo naledi brought in the hands, wrists, feet and legs. So the most modern features came from Homo naledi and the psychotic brain from Homo erectus: 


But then we have to redraw our diagram:

Assumption 470: Homo naledi was the core Australopithecus from which we all descend. Homo naledi is the principal and ancient ancestor of Homo sapiens. Homo naledi interbred with Homo erectus and delivered the advanced extremities as modern legs, hands, wrists and feet. Homo erectus brought in his retarded cauliflower brain which caused him to seriously derailed into magical religion, in which he sexually terrorized the females. So, there must have been two breeding lines of Homo erectus, with and without advanced features from Homo naledi.