What if I told you there's a secret cave that held bones from humans' long-lost cousins for hundreds of thousands of years?

The Day Scientists Found Our Ancient Cousins!

How a cave in South Africa revealed a brand new human relative

Scientists discovered a new human relative species hidden deep in a South African cave!

Imagine squeezing through a crack in a cave so tiny that only super skinny explorers could fit through. That's exactly what happened in South Africa in 2013!

On April 15, 2015, scientists announced something INCREDIBLE to the world. Deep inside a cave called Rising Star, they had discovered bones from a brand new species of ancient human relative. They named it Homo naledi (nah-LEE-dee), which means 'star' in a local language.

Here's where it gets really cool. The cave passage was SO narrow — only about 7 inches wide in some spots — that regular-sized scientists couldn't fit through! So they put out a call for small, skinny scientists who weren't afraid of tight spaces. Six brave women answered the call and became underground astronauts!

These amazing explorers crawled through darkness, squeezed through rocky tunnels, and carefully collected over 1,500 bones! That's more ancient human relative bones than had EVER been found in Africa before!

💡 The cave passage was so narrow that only people with shoulders less than 7 inches wide could squeeze through — that's about as wide as your school ruler!