Bone bonanza: Rising Star cave

martinm

New member
Judi Durber said:
New Scientist
Can anyone get to the full article  ;)

The title of the article is 'Chamber of Secrets' and starts on page 40 of this weeks issue. I have it in front of me, but haven't read it yet...
 

JasonC

Well-known member
Yep, I can get it, but it's a bit long to post here.
Anyway, maybe you should buy the mag if you're not a subscriber ;)
 

caving_fox

Active member
There's not a lot of details.

They  (two local SA cavers - contacted archaeologist, who appealed for petite researchers to excavate) found a chamber at the bottom of a 18cm vertical slot. (pretty tight but not horrific depending on your build). It had a LOT of bones in it - jumbled by the sound of it - all buried in clay. All hominid but details not yet known. 2 expeditions, 1300 bones extracted! (sold out of local Tupperware boxes!)

Details to be released sometime in Spring when they've had a chance to examine them thoroughly. They don't know how the bones got there.
 
caving_fox said:
There's not a lot of details.

They  (two local SA cavers - contacted archaeologist, who appealed for petite researchers to excavate) found a chamber at the bottom of a 18cm vertical slot. (pretty tight but not horrific depending on your build). It had a LOT of bones in it - jumbled by the sound of it - all buried in clay. All hominid but details not yet known. 2 expeditions, 1300 bones extracted! (sold out of local Tupperware boxes!)

Details to be released sometime in Spring when they've had a chance to examine them thoroughly. They don't know how the bones got there.

Thank you.  :) 

Tried several shops & they didn't have the magazine  :mad:
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
A lot of wild supposition as well. If this was a ritual burial and there is no other way in then I cannot see a primitive hominid groping its way through the sort of cave system Rising Star is on the hope that there might be an open space in it!  The bones must have either been washed in or deposited through a choked unknown entrance or might I ask could this be a Piltdown style hoax. The detailed newspaper article I read suggested there is a degree of scepticisim about the age of the remains as well considering they have not been dated yet.
 

rhychydwr1

Active member
I am inclined to agree with the good Doc.  When I first read the report I assumed that there was another entrance which had collapsed.  I am very suspicious, as the bones are in such good condition.  I would expect that bones on the surface in a cave, for millions of years would have disintegrated long ago.  But there again, the Nat Geo are no fools and unlikely to have been conned.
 
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