Anthropology Assistant Professor Juliet Brophy, was one of more than 60 scientists who discovered and examined the fossils of a new species linked to human ancestry ­— Homo naledi
Last summer, Brophy worked in the “tooth booth,” where the mandible and teeth of the fossils of the species were examined and compared to other early humans.
Homo naledi, whose species name stems from the Sesotho word for “star,” is shown to have smaller, orange-sized brains and human-like feet.
Based on the 1,600 fossils found during a cave excavation in South Africa in summer 2014, the team determined they have collected around 15 Homo naledi specimens. Brophy said the research points to the average Homo naledi being about five feet tall and around 100 pounds.
Brophy came to LSU this semester after teaching at Loyola University Chicago. She said her research revolves around field work, an area LSU puts an emphasis on.
Brophy applied to be part of the team led by Lee Berger, a professor of human evolution at the University of Witwatersrand because of her previous field experience.
“One of the biggest things about this find is that there have been previous species that have been named based on a premolar, or a piece of a mandible or a knee, but here we have 1,600 fossils,” Brophy said. “Getting [the team] there was drooling to be a part of this project for six weeks. All we did all day was study our specialty within the fossils we found.”
Brophy said the scientists spent countless hours justifying evidence suggesting the discovered fossils were linked to human ancestry.
While the exact placement of Homo naledi in the human lineage is unknown, the fossils have a strange mix of characteristics that changed the trajectory of Homo genus scientific research.
“Homo naledi has a small brain size and small teeth, which don’t line up with what we’ve found on other species in the Homo genus, but it has long curved fingers which suggest it spent time in trees,” Brophy said. “The thumb we found suggests it could have made stone tools so the transitions between species we thought were being made are being reexamined.”
The next step in examining Homo naledi is more research on the site it was found at. Brophy said her six weeks there were intense, but there are other questions to answer such as how the fossils got to the limestone cave and what Homo naledi ate.
While Brophy prepares to work on the next set of papers to be published as a result of the discovery, she will bring her excitement about the findings and her field work to the classroom.
“I didn’t get into this for the money and because of that, I’ll never work a day in my life,” Brophy said. “It’s going to be busy, but I’m excited to bring that field experience into my classes to show how much fun it can be.”
Brophy said the most positive feedback she has received from students focused on how passionate she is about anthropology. She said she spent her entire class Thursday talking about her experience with Homo naledi.
“I got a couple of emails after class saying how cool my ‘not lecture’ was because it was in the news,” Brophy said. 

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Ronni Bourgeois

Anthropology assistant professor Juliet Brophy helped discover a new species linked to human ancestry called Homo naledi.