Cross-section of the Rising Star Cave system Dinaledi Chamber

The Underground Astronauts is the name given to a group of six scientists, Hannah Morris, Marina Elliott, Becca Peixotto,

Alia Gurtov Alia Gurtov is an American paleoanthropologist who is known for being one of the six Underground Astronauts of the Rising Star Expedition. Education Gurtov attended Wellesley College, majoring in French and anthropology. In 2006, she was g ...

, K. Lindsay (then Eaves) Hunter, and Elen Feuerriegel, who excavated the bones of ''

Homo naledi '' Homo naledi'' is an Extinction, extinct species of archaic human discovered in 2013 in the Rising Star Cave system, Gauteng province, South Africa, part of the Cradle of Humankind, dating back to the Middle Pleistocene 335,000–236,000 yea ...

'' from the

Dinaledi Chamber The Rising Star cave system (also known as Westminster or Empire cave) is located in the Malmani dolomites, in Bloubank River valley, about southwest of Swartkrans, part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa. Recreat ...

of the

Rising Star cave The Rising Star cave system (also known as Westminster or Empire cave) is located in the Malmani Subgroup, Malmani dolomites, in Bloubank River valley, about southwest of Swartkrans, part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in Sout ...

system in Gauteng, South Africa. The six women were selected by the expedition leader, Lee Rogers Berger, who posted a message on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

asking for scientists with experience in paleontological excavations and caving, and were slender enough for cramped spaces. Within ten days of the post, Berger had received almost sixty applicants and chose six scientists to make up his expedition team.

The Rising Star Expedition

In November 2013, the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

and the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

funded an expedition called the Rising Star Expedition for a twenty-one day excavation at the Rising Star cave system in Gauteng, followed by a second expedition in March 2014 for a 4-week excavation in the

. The first expedition retrieved 1,550 pieces of bone belonging to at least fifteen individuals, found within 1 m² of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

-rich sediments. Out of the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

assemblage found, only twenty bones in the human anatomy were not found in the assortment. The six scientists had to pass through three points of difficult terrain in the cave to reach the bone chamber. The first is referred to as "Superman's Crawl," which required one arm held forward to pass, similar to

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

's flight. They then had to climb vertically up a rock surface, known as the "Dragon's back," and finally pass through a slender opening and descend 30 meters into the Dinaledi chamber. Because of the difficulty of the expedition and their exploration of the Dinaledi Chamber, the six women were given the name "the Underground Astronauts."

Controversy

Berger's methods in selecting his research team were criticized by some contemporaries. Because of how he called for applicants via social media to investigate new

hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...

remains, some experts questioned the legitimacy and professionalism of the expedition. He used a similar process when it came time to analyze the recovered remains, once again sending out a call online for those interested in analyzing the remains, specifically looking for early career applicants. Berger was given the nickname "Mr. Paleodemocracy" because of his methods. Some experts began to view the expedition as a media stunt, as the excavation process was documented via daily blog posts, and Berger spoke on radio shows. The data collected was published in open-access journals and scanned in-order to allow the greatest amount of scientists to access and contribute to the study of the fossil data, quite different from the slow and limited access methods used by most

paleoanthropologists Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and biological anthropology, anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as wikt:hominization, hominization, throug ...

Excavator team

* Hannah Morris, archaeologist. *

is a

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

– Madison Ph.D. candidate researching the effects of seasonality on hominin foraging at Olduvai Gorge,

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. * Marina Elliott is originally from Calgary, Canada, and has a master's degree in biological anthropology from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. * Elen Feuerriegel, then a PhD candidate at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, studying shoulder biomechanics with Colin Groves in Oldowan stone tool manufacture. * Becca Peixotto is an archaeologist and Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

* K. Lindsay ( Eaves) Hunter is a biological anthropologist and currently serves as the Community Engagement and Advancement Director fo
CARTA, the UC San Diego/Salk Center for Academic Research & Training in Anthropogeny
in La Jolla, CA. Following the 2013 expedition, Lindsay married Rick Hunter, one of the co-discoverers of ''

''.

References

External links

The Women Behind the Discovery of Humankind's Newest (Maybe) Relative

Trowel Blazers - Rising Star

The role of women and youth in discovering Homo Naledi
{{Greater Johannesburg, natural Women archaeologists Paleontology in South Africa Archaeological sites in South Africa National Geographic Society University of the Witwatersrand Archaeology of Southern Africa 2013 in South Africa 2014 in South Africa Cradle of Humankind

The Rising Star Expedition

Controversy

Excavator team

See also

References

External links