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Unknown: Cave of Bones is a Netflix documentary following paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, biological archaeologist Keneiloe Molopyane, biological anthropologist Agustín Fuentes, and paleoanthropologist John D. Hawks as they discuss discoveries made in the Rising Star Cave. Unknown: Cave of Bones is one part of a four-part docuseries produced by Story Synidate. The docuseries also includes Unknown: The Lost Pyramid, Unknown: Killer Robots, and Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine.

Summary

The documentary starts by introducing paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, biological archaeologist Keneiloe Molopyane, biological anthropologist Agustín Fuentes, and paleoanthropologist John D. Hawks. Introducing the project thus far, Berger describes how 15 individual skeletons have been found in the Rising Star Cave, along with a collection of 1,500 bone fragments. From this evidence, a new species of early hominin was discovered and identified as homo naledi. Berger goes on to describe homo naledi, noting that they are in the same genus as humans, but have a brain size similar to that of a chimpanzee.

The documentary goes on to explain how the first findings of homo naledi in the Rising Star Cave were thought to be examples of burial practices. This is a significant discovery because, before the archaeological discoveries in this cave, burial was believed to be a practice exclusive to homo sapiens. Originally the bones were thought to be evidence of ritualized disposal of bodies, the homo naledi simply dropping their dead bodies into the last chamber of the Rising Star Cave, the Dinaleti Chamber. However, after further excavations into the Dinaleti Chamber, bodies were found in pit burials, proving that homo naledi practiced burial just as homo sapiens did and even before our earliest evidence of homo sapien burial. These discoveries raised the question of whether or not homo naledi had any concept of an afterlife. In the documentary, the researchers speculate about the possible ideas of spirituality that homo naledi might have had, based on the physical evidence found in the cave system.

The documentary gives the viewer a tour around the cave, describing the different areas and how excavation is done there, along with an illustrated and simplified map. It is explained that the entrance of the cave was artificially created by miners in the early 20th century who were looking for lime. Although the entrance that it is believed that homo naledi entered through has now collapsed, the path that homo naledi would have taken is still retraceable starting in the chamber called Dragon’s Back Ridge.

The documentary portrays the journey as Berger and Fuentes travel into Dragon’s Back Ridge and up to the area called The Choot, which is a 12-meter tunnel that vertically drops into the Dinaleti Chamber, the last chamber in the cave. The danger of working in the Rising Star Cave is illustrated through testimonials from the researchers as the narrative of the documentary follows the team through the cave. The documentary takes the viewer along with the excavators, describing the processes at work, translating to the viewer what the discovered evidence means, and then contextualizing the evidence in how it fits into the narrative of history. This provides insight to the viewer into how archaeology is practiced in the Rising Star Cave and the effect that the resulting discoveries have on history.

Hawkes describes the different hypotheses that have been suggested as to why these bones are in the cave. For example, carnivores might have brought the bones in. This was proven false as no tooth marks have been found on the bones, there are beetle marks on the bones which shows that flesh was on them when they were left in the cave. This evidence, combined with a completely intact skeleton of an ankle, they were able to prove that these bodies were purposefully taken to the caves. Hawkes goes on to explain that for something to be called a burial, a hole has to be dug, a body placed into it, and covered up with dirt again. He notes that while sometimes skeletons can be found collectively like this, they have to have evidence of the steps of burial to be classified as evidence of burial. These steps of burial are presented in the documentary as being observable in the evidence found in the Rising Star Cave and it is concluded that these bones can be classified as evidence of burial.

To better study examples of homo naledi skeletal remains, Berger and Hawkes reconstruct a homo naledi skeleton with the pieces they had collected from the Rising Star Cave. This visual, combined with animations created by Compost Creative, help to illustrate what homo naledi looked like. With the homo naledi skeleton laid out on a table for reference, Berger shows how the homo naledi skeleton differs from the skeleton of an ape with an emphasis on the differences of bone structure in the hands. Then Berger lays out his own hand, comparing the hand of a human with that of homo naledi. The documentary goes on to explain what physical features can be deduced from the skeletal data homo naledi provides. By describing the structure of homo naledi canines, Berger explains how it can be concluded that homo naledi were using their canines to portray smiling like humans do, and not to portray threats like apes do. Touching on the subject of homo naledi brain size, which is described to be one-third of homo sapien brain size. However, evidence of homo naledi complexity of behavior challenges the common assumption that brain size determines brain capacity.

In the documentary, researchers discover evidence of a preserved fire, along with charred bones portraying evidence that food was cooked on the fire. Because the preserved fire was found in a similar depth as the naledi bones found in another chamber of the cave, it is assumed that homo naledi were the ones building this fire. Berger identifies the charred bone as an antelope bone, further suggesting that antelope was part of the homo naledi diet. The researchers engage in an example of experimental archaeology where with real fire they demonstrate how homo naledi would have used a series of fires to light their way through the cave systems. After that, using another series of animated short clips, the speculated process that the homo naledi would have gone through to bury their dead is described and illustrated.

In order to further demonstrate the difference between homo naledi, homo sapiens, and other apes, Fuentes describes how apes will individually mourn their dead, and that the difference between other members of the ape family and homo naledi and homo sapiens is that homo naledi and homo sapiens mourn collectively as a community.

As the documentary progresses, the researchers find the body of a child homo naledi. They use plaster to remove the skeleton and take it to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility where it is scanned and a digital 3D reconstruction is created. From this information, a rock in the hand of the child is observed to be a sharp-edged tool.

In the final scenes of the documentary, Berger himself ventures into the Dinaleti Chamber. In his journey, he identifies scratches along the entrance area of the passageway into the Dinaleti Chamber as pictographs. The researchers compare these markings to hashmark markings on cave walls made by Neanderthals and homo sapiens. The markings that homo naledi created are identified as hash marks due to their striking similarity with Neanderthal and homo sapiens hash marks. It is hypothesized that homo naledi used rocks similar to the one found in the child’s grave as utensils to make these early cave markings.