Homo Naledi: Our new human relative found in South Africa 6 Photos . Updated: 07 Oct 2015, 06:12 PM IST Livemint The fossils are among nearly 1,700 bones and teeth retrieved from a nearly inaccessible cave near Johannesburg 1/6The skeleton of Homo Naledi pictured in the Wits bone vault at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The fossils are among nearly 1,700 bones and teeth retrieved from a nearly inaccessible cave near Johannesburg. AFP 2/6A reconstruction of Homo Naledi presented during the announcement made in South Africa on 10 September 2015. The fossils represent at least 15 individuals of the species.AP 3/6Parts of a composite skeleton of Homo Naledi shows some of the facial bones. The new species has been named ‘Homo Naledi’, in honour of the “Rising Star” cave where it was found. Naledi means “star” in South Africa’s Sesotho language.AP 4/6Archeology students excavating a site near the visitor centre of the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg where the new species, Homo Naledi, estimated to be about 2.5 to 2.8 million years old, was discovered. AFP 5/6The digits of Homo Naledi unearthed from a deep cave near the famed sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans in Johannesburg that have yielded pieces of the puzzle of human evolution for decades. Reuters 6/6Professor Lee Berger, the paleoanthropologist responsible for the discovery, kisses a replica of the skull of a Homo Naledi during the unveiling on 10 September. He said that the fossils are of a tall hominid, between 1.45 and 1.5 metres tall, very skinny with powerful joint muscles and a brain about the size of a fist. AFP