Rising Star H. naledi remains

I am a new subscriber to National Geographic! The first article that caught my eye is about the Rising Star Caves. I found this article interesting due to the many possible theories scientists developed to explain why H. naledi remains were found so deep in the Rising Star caves. The main topic was the discovery of nearly 2,000 H. naledi bones in the Rising Star and how the H. naledi bodies got there. The cave is full of narrow crevices, vertical drops, and suffocating tunnels making exploration a dangerous task. One of the most notable theories of why H. naledi bones were in the caves is that the H. naledi may have carried the dead into the caves as a burial ritual. This theory suggests that other species besides Homo sapiens bury their dead which would completely alter our understanding of H. naledi culture. Another plausible theory was that the H. naledi lived inside the caves. This theory is plausible because the H. naledi are of shorter stature than the normal human. In fact, female scientists have been able to navigate their way through complex caves because of their small stature. Perhaps hiding in the Rising Star caves provided protection and shelter from large predators. Maybe Leti was found so deep into the tunnel system because she got separated from her family and got lost. This article focused on H. naledi bones found inside the twisted and narrow Rising Star caves and speculated on how the bones got there in the first place. The two main theories are that H. naledi purposefully buried their dead in the caves to honor them or that H. naledi lived in those caves. I think the H. naledi lived inside the caves since it would provide them with ample protection and their smaller stature would make navigating the tight curves easier. It would be so exciting to follow this project and see what we learn about H. naledi and their culture/society in the near future. This is the link to the article I read!

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/ancient-childs-bones-deepen-mystery-of-enigmatic-human-relative?loggedin=true&rnd=1726793088772