Scientists Found 20 Ancient Human Relatives in a Cave — But No Signs of Males
Deep inside a mysterious South African cave, scientists have uncovered an extraordinary puzzle about human evolution. Fossils belonging to at least 20 individuals of an extinct human relative contain a surprising clue: researchers could not identify a single male among them.
The discovery raises an intriguing question. Could an ancient human species have deliberately placed only females inside a hidden cave? The answer is far from certain, but a scientific study published in Cell has opened a fascinating new chapter in the mystery of Homo naledi.
The Ancient Cave That Keeps Surprising Scientists
The fossils were discovered in the Rising Star cave system, part of South Africa's famous Cradle of Humankind. They belong to Homo naledi, an extinct human relative that lived approximately 335,000 to 236,000 years ago. This unusual species combined features associated with early human ancestors and more recent humans. Its brain was considerably smaller than ours, yet its hands, feet and other anatomical characteristics revealed a complex evolutionary history.
Since the first major discoveries in 2013, researchers have recovered thousands of fossil fragments from the cave's difficult-to-reach chambers. But the latest protein analysis has revealed something nobody expected.
An international research team examined 23 fossil teeth representing at least 20 different Homo naledi individuals. Instead of relying on DNA, which often deteriorates over hundreds of thousands of years, the scientists studied ancient proteins preserved inside tooth enamel. They searched for a protein called amelogenin-Y, normally associated with the male Y chromosome.
The result was astonishing. None of the examined fossils contained convincing evidence of this male-specific protein. Researchers identified 19 individuals as likely female with high confidence, while the remaining individual's results were also consistent with being female. This raises the possibility that the known fossil population from Rising Star was overwhelmingly, or perhaps entirely, female.
One possible explanation is that Homo naledi deliberately deposited female members of its community inside the cave. If true, this would suggest an unexpectedly complex pattern of behavior among an ancient human relative. However, the interpretation remains controversial.
Scientists have debated for years whether the bodies found in Rising Star were intentionally buried or accumulated through other processes. There is also another possibility: male Homo naledi individuals may have lacked the particular protein marker researchers were searching for because of an ancient genetic change. This means the absence of male markers does not conclusively prove that every individual was female. The cave's narrow passages and the complicated history of its fossil deposits add further uncertainty.
Whatever the explanation, the discovery demonstrates the remarkable power of ancient protein analysis. Even when DNA has disappeared, proteins protected within fossil teeth can survive long enough to reveal biological information about extinct species. The research could help scientists investigate other prehistoric populations whose fossils have remained difficult to interpret. For Homo naledi, however, the central question remains unanswered.
Why do the fossils of so many individuals from one ancient cave show no convincing signs of males?
Was this the result of unusual social behavior, a remarkable biological difference, or something researchers have yet to discover? Hundreds of thousands of years after these ancient human relatives disappeared, the Rising Star cave continues to guard one of the strangest mysteries in human evolution.
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