Evolution by Natural Selection is the strongest fact of science and it gets stronger every day. More than a thousand recently discovered fossils of human ancestors are now being analyzed.

Lee Berger (baseball cap) stands with the core excavation team. Back row: Pedro Boshoff, Hannah Morris, Elen Feuerriegel, Gerrie Pretorius, Becca Peixotto, Dave Ingold, Alia Gurtov, and Andre Doussy. Front row: Rick Hunter, Lindsay Eaves, Marina Elliott, and Steve Tucker. (Photo by Andrew Howley)

The Rising Star Expedition was rapidly assembled during October 2013 to recover ancient hominid fossils discovered deep in a South African cave.

With more than 1200 identified and cataloged hominid fossil elements already collected, the find could add significantly to our understanding of human evolution.

With the bones hidden 30 meters underground beyond obstacles including a dangerous squeeze only 18 cm wide, it was necessary to assemble a select team of capable researchers with excavation experience and the unlikely caving skills and particular size required to reach the inner chamber. The few who met all these requirements happened to all be women.

Directed by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand, and supported by cavers from the Speleological Exploration Club of South Africa, these researchers spent three weeks bringing up hominid fossils that are now being analyzed by a wider team of experts on the surface.

For an unprecedented view into this rare discovery and the work of processing it all, follow along with updates here and on Twitter:

@LeeRBerger
@JohnHawks

Now that the field season has wrapped there’s been time to look back and see the story as a whole, from Pedro Boshoff’s original commission to seek out new fossil sites in the caves of the Cradle of Humankind, to the phenomenal final tally of more than a thousand hominid fossil elements discovered and identified.