Unknown: Cave of Bones

[Joe Duxbury]

A fascinating film on Netflix. Well-filmed, no excess lighting. It was interesting to see how non-cavers managed underground: "We only go through this crawl one at a time, in case it collapses."!

 

[Leclused]

I saw it yesterday, and indeed very well filmed and it gave good info about Naledi people. But also how non cavers go through the cave.

 

[CJ]

All evolutionary biology and anthropology aside, I thought the cave itself was also quite fascinating and with some very pretty speleothems that I hadn't expected. I was quite curious to know about air flow, particularly surrounding the use of fire. I am just reading about some of the alternative theories for the findings (possible alternative routes to the chamber and changes to passage size etc).

 

[Joe Duxbury]

I was quite curious to know about air flow, particularly surrounding the use of fire.

Yes, with your main man (Lee Berger) suggesting homo naledi navigated the cave by lighting a series of fires along the way, there would have had to have been a decent airflow, otherwise bad air would have soon been a problem.
Where is it you're reading about 'alternative theories'?

 

[mrodoc]

The BEC got there first! True! The report is in a Belfry Bulletin I edited.

 

[alastairgott]

My workmate watched it, I've not yet watched it but looked up the reviews when he mentioned it and found this corker! Don't be angry with him, but bask in the comments which are already there, I've included a snapshot of three comments at the bottom of the article below, to give you an idea of what you're diving into before you click the link.

Unknown: Cave of Bones Review - A tedious watch with a few standout moments

Here is our official review of the 2023 Netflix documentary Unknown: Cave of Bones, released on July 17th, 2023.

readysteadycut.com

 

[CJ]

Yes, with your main man (Lee Berger) suggesting homo naledi navigated the cave by lighting a series of fires along the way, there would have had to have been a decent airflow, otherwise bad air would have soon been a problem.
Where is it you're reading about 'alternative theories'?

Major new research claims smaller-brained ‘Homo naledi’ made rock art and buried the dead. But the evidence is lacking

Homo naledi had a brain less than half the size of our own. Yet the new research claims it had cognitive abilities far beyond what we might expect.

theconversation.com

Does This Hominid “Erase Human Exceptionalism”? | Evolution News

Berger et al.’s claims about the species have been disputed and their idea that it lived 2-3 million years ago was exaggerated by a factor of 10.

evolutionnews.org

 

[Tim Pickering]

I'm going to swim against the tide here but I couldn't make it to the end. I find human evolution a fascinating topic, and this film had plenty of potential but it lacked the depth (pun unintended) necessary to do the subject matter justice. I would like to have seen more of a comparison with other members of hominini, and I thought the assumption that burial rituals equate with some early supernatural belief system was not thoroughly discussed. For example, the tool in the child's hand appeared deliberate but my immediate thought was it may have been an act of sentimentality rather than a belief in the afterlife. No alternative to the latter was ever suggested. That seemed to be the crux of the film; burial rituals equate to a belief system. I think that needs further exploration. I made it two-thirds of the way through the film but lost interest earlier on.

 

[BikinGlynn]

Just watched it, very interesting.
Not sure I agree with hammering bits if the rock away so the fat bloke can get through though 🤣