It has been just over 10 years since the first fossils attributed to Homo naledi were recovered from the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind. The hominin fossil evidence for H. naledi displays a distinctive combination of primitive and derived morphology, yet for a time-averaged fossil sample it is remarkable for its relatively low level of variation. Thus—unusually for palaeoanthropology—there has been little pushback against the decision to recognize a single novel taxon for all of the material recovered from the Rising Star Cave system. However, almost everything else claimed about H. naledi—its age, burial context and behaviour—has been controversial. Here we examine the strength of the evidence for these claims.

距离南非人类摇篮的新星洞穴系统发现第一块纳莱迪人化石已经过去了十多年。纳莱迪人的古人类化石证据显示出原始形态和衍生形态的独特组合，但对于时间平均化石样本而言，其变异水平相对较低，因此引人注目。因此，对于古人类学而言，不同寻常的是，对于为从新星洞穴系统回收的所有材料承认单一新分类单元的决定几乎没有遇到任何阻力。然而，关于纳莱迪人的几乎所有其他说法——它的年龄、埋葬环境和行为——一直存在争议。在这里，我们检查这些主张的证据强度。