Homo naledi
E685550
Homo naledi is an extinct species of small-brained hominin from South Africa, notable for its mix of primitive and modern anatomical features and its possible deliberate mortuary behavior.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Homo naledi canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7729127 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Homo naledi Context triple: [Homo, includesTaxon, Homo naledi]
-
A.
Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis is an extinct small-bodied hominin species, nicknamed "the Hobbit," known from remains discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores and notable for its unique combination of primitive and modern traits.
-
B.
KNM Ula
KNM Ula is a Royal Norwegian Navy diesel-electric attack submarine that serves as the lead boat of Norway’s modern Ula-class fleet.
-
C.
Naledi
Naledi is a residential township neighborhood within Soweto, a large urban area southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa.
-
D.
Taung Child
The Taung Child is a famous fossilized skull and endocast of a young early hominin discovered in South Africa in 1924, which provided crucial evidence for human evolution originating in Africa.
-
E.
Eschrichtius robustus
Eschrichtius robustus is the gray whale, a large baleen whale species known for its long coastal migrations and bottom-feeding behavior in the North Pacific.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Homo naledi Target entity description: Homo naledi is an extinct species of small-brained hominin from South Africa, notable for its mix of primitive and modern anatomical features and its possible deliberate mortuary behavior.
-
A.
Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis is an extinct small-bodied hominin species, nicknamed "the Hobbit," known from remains discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores and notable for its unique combination of primitive and modern traits.
-
B.
KNM Ula
KNM Ula is a Royal Norwegian Navy diesel-electric attack submarine that serves as the lead boat of Norway’s modern Ula-class fleet.
-
C.
Naledi
Naledi is a residential township neighborhood within Soweto, a large urban area southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa.
-
D.
Taung Child
The Taung Child is a famous fossilized skull and endocast of a young early hominin discovered in South Africa in 1924, which provided crucial evidence for human evolution originating in Africa.
-
E.
Eschrichtius robustus
Eschrichtius robustus is the gray whale, a large baleen whale species known for its long coastal migrations and bottom-feeding behavior in the North Pacific.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (74)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | extinct hominin species ⓘ |
| authority |
Berger et al. 2015
ⓘ
linked to:
Berger
|
| binomialName | Homo naledi ⓘ |
| bodyMass | approximately 40–55 kilograms ⓘ |
| brainSize | approximately 465–610 cubic centimeters ⓘ |
| browRidge | present and pronounced ⓘ |
| class | Mammalia ⓘ |
| climbingAdaptations | present in upper limbs ⓘ |
| climbingBehaviorImplication | retained arboreal capabilities alongside bipedalism ⓘ |
| coexistedWith |
early Homo sapiens in Africa
ⓘ
other Middle Pleistocene Homo lineages ⓘ |
| controversialAspect |
interpretation of deliberate burial or body disposal
ⓘ
placement within genus Homo and phylogenetic position ⓘ |
| countryOfDiscovery | South Africa ⓘ |
| cranialCapacityRelativeToModernHumans | about one-third to one-half of Homo sapiens ⓘ |
| culturalAttribution | Middle Pleistocene African hominin ⓘ |
| dateOfFirstDescription | 2015 ⓘ |
| datingMethodsUsed |
optically stimulated luminescence
ⓘ
paleomagnetic analysis ⓘ uranium-thorium dating ⓘ |
| dentition |
relatively small teeth
ⓘ
simple cusp patterns ⓘ |
| describedIn | eLife journal ⓘ |
| discoveredBy |
Lee R. Berger
ⓘ
Rising Star Expedition team ⓘ |
| estimatedAgeRange | about 335,000 to 236,000 years ago ⓘ |
| evidenceOfCarnivoreActivityOnBones | minimal ⓘ |
| evidenceOfWaterTransportOfBones | lacking ⓘ |
| evolutionarySignificance |
demonstrates mosaic evolution in genus Homo
ⓘ
shows that small-brained hominins persisted into Late Middle Pleistocene ⓘ |
| faceMorphology |
reduced prognathism compared to earlier hominins
ⓘ
relatively small, gracile face ⓘ |
| family | Hominidae ⓘ |
| footMorphology |
arched foot suitable for bipedal walking
ⓘ
largely human-like foot ⓘ |
| fossilPreservation | generally well-preserved skeletal material ⓘ |
| genus | Homo ⓘ |
| geologicalAge |
Late Middle Pleistocene
ⓘ
linked to:
Pleistocene epoch
|
| geologicalFormation |
Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site
ⓘ
linked to:
Cradle of Humankind
|
| handFunctionImplication | capable of precise manipulation ⓘ |
| handMorphology |
curved fingers adapted for climbing
ⓘ
human-like wrist and thumb ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| languageOfSpecificEpithetMeaning | Sesotho ⓘ |
| locomotion | habitual bipedalism ⓘ |
| meaningOfEpithet | “naledi” means “star” ⓘ |
| minimumNumberOfIndividuals | at least 15 individuals ⓘ |
| nameRefersTo | Rising Star Cave system ⓘ |
| notableFor |
combination of primitive and derived anatomical traits
ⓘ
large assemblage of fossil individuals in a single cave system ⓘ small brain size with relatively modern postcranial skeleton ⓘ |
| numberOfSpecimensRecovered | over 1500 fossil elements ⓘ |
| order | Primates ⓘ |
| pelvisMorphology | more primitive and flared, similar to australopiths ⓘ |
| phylogeneticPosition | uncertain within Homo clade ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| possibleBehavior |
deliberate deposition of dead in cave chambers
ⓘ
mortuary-like behavior ⓘ |
| publicationYearOfDating | 2017 for direct dating results ⓘ |
| region |
Gauteng Province, South Africa
ⓘ
linked to:
Gauteng
|
| researchLedBy |
National Geographic Society–funded team
ⓘ
University of the Witwatersrand ⓘ |
| ribcageMorphology | more conical, similar to australopiths ⓘ |
| sexualDimorphism | moderate ⓘ |
| shoulderMorphology | more ape-like, oriented for climbing ⓘ |
| siteOfDiscovery |
Dinaledi Chamber
ⓘ
Lesedi Chamber ⓘ Rising Star Cave system ⓘ |
| stature | approximately 1.45 meters ⓘ |
| subfamily | Homininae ⓘ |
| taxonRank | species ⓘ |
| tribe | Hominini ⓘ |
| typeLocality |
Dinaledi Chamber, Rising Star Cave
ⓘ
linked to:
Dinaledi Chamber
|
| UNESCOWorldHeritageContext | Cradle of Humankind ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Homo naledi Description of subject: Homo naledi is an extinct species of small-brained hominin from South Africa, notable for its mix of primitive and modern anatomical features and its possible deliberate mortuary behavior.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.