'No scientific evidence' that ancient human relative buried dead and carved art as portrayed in Netflix documentary, researchers argue

A digital reconstruction of Homo naledi, an extinct human relative who lived around 300,000 years ago. (Image credit: Photo by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic, Gallo Images via Getty Images)

There's "no convincing scientific evidence" behind the extraordinary claims that the ancient human relative Homo naledi deliberately buried their dead and engraved rocks deep in a South African cave around 300,000 years ago, a group of archaeologists argues in a new commentary.

H. naledi became a lightning rod of controversy earlier this year after a team claimed the extinct hominin with an orange-size brain carried its dead into the Rising Star cave system, lit fires and engraved abstract patterns and shapes onto the walls — complex behaviors previously known only in larger-brained modern humans (Homo sapiens) and our close cousins.