Homo sapiens had a rival cousin as recently as 236,000 years ago, according to discoveries made by a team of scientists in South Africa.

…Homo naledi also appear to have engaged in the relatively advanced practice of burying their dead.

…The discoveries have encouraged other scientists to rethink human evolution.

…the discovery should prompt people to question the familiar image of a stooped chimp-like creature evolving into an upright, modern human.

“We’ve had for so long this view that human evolution was a matter of inevitability represented by that march, that progress,” he told the paper. “But now that narrative of human evolution has become one of adaptability. There was a lot of evolution and extinction of populations and lineages that made it through some pretty tough times, and we’re the beneficiary of that.”

Homo nadeli, just discovered in Africa, were walking around with humans

It always boggles the mind that researchers have so much trouble entertaining theories based on what is in front of them, theories that make so much more sense than anything that came before.