Amazing haul of ancient human finds unveiled
Source: BBC
A new haul of ancient human remains has been described from an important cave site in South Africa.
The finds, including a well-preserved skull, bolster the idea that the Homo naledi people deliberately deposited their dead in the cave.
Evidence of such complex behaviour is surprising for a human species with a brain that's a third the size of ours.
Despite showing some primitive traits it lived relatively recently, perhaps as little as 235,000 years ago.
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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39842975
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6000 years. 
To be or not to be human? That's a question some scholars still feel is up for debate when it comes to Homo floresiensis.
Although parts of its anatomy resembled those of very ancient humans, dating analysis puts the skeleton at about 18,000 years old.
That means the seemingly primitive species lived at the same time as modern humans (Homo sapiens), which appeared about 200,000 years ago. In other words, the Hobbit appears to be the latest surviving human species, aside from our own.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-years-flores-hobbit-human-evolution-fossil-puzzle-180953108/
Even if they don't look especially human-like, the use of tools separates them from animals.
Also any sign of an ability to communicate, but that would be hard to prove.
The size of their brain doesn't determine everything, but it is an indicator.
