Early humans co-existed with human-like species some 300,000 years ago

Paleontologists are revealing early humans actually co-existed with a human-like species some 300,00 years ago.

The cousin of homo sapiens, called homo naledi, was discovered in 2013 in a cave called Rising Star, outside of Johannesburg, South Africa.

The scientists thought that the new species roamed the earth over 2 million years ago, but now it is believed they may have roamed as early as 230,000 to 330,000 years ago according to Lee Berger, the lead researcher.

Naledi also shared characteristics with both more modern homo sapiens and some of our earlier ancestors like homo rudolfensis and habilis.

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The researchers also discovered that, although naledi had a much smaller brain than homo sapiens, they too used the advance technique of burying their dead, after finding almost perfectly preserved remains in very remote chambers that only "petite female spelunkers" could traverse.

The discoveries have made scientists rethink human evolution. Berger said: "We can no longer assume that we know which species made which tools or even assume that it was modern humans that were the innovators of some of these critical technological and behavioral breakthroughs in the archaeological record of Africa."