Common Sense Media Review
By JK Sooja
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fascinating human origin docu has some peril, language.
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Unknown: Cave of Bones
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In UNKNOWN: CAVE OF BONES, a team of archeologists and paleoanthropologists return to the Rising Star cave system in South Africa to excavate and learn more about the Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo. What will the team discover about another fellow early hominid?
Is It Any Good?
The recent finding of a new hominid is compelling, but a lot of this documentary is only about a handful of discoveries. Still fascinating, though, Unknown: Cave of Bones provides an intimate look at the team going back into the Rising Star cave system in 2022 to further explore and uncover more about Homo naledi. Over 100,000 years before the human, the Homo naledi were burying their dead, using tools, and drawing on cave walls. The team is able to piece together almost full skeletons of the species, as well as make interesting claims about tool usage, brain size, diet, burial rituals, cave art, and possible spiritual beliefs.
But the length of this film is a bit long to be singularly focusing on only a few things (burial, a tool, some cave wall scratches), even if those things are greatly impactful, as everyone often points out. What do these discoveries suggest about the actual origins of the human? Maybe the human was never that special after all? Was brain size actually an indicator of ability and intelligence? Also, much is made of how difficult this particular cave section (where the Homo naledi was originally discovered) is to explore, and much drama is made of one particular person's ability to reach the deepest part.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about discovering new things in documentaries. What finding or discovery in Unknown: Cave of Bones is most exciting, in your opinion?
Why might it be important that Homo naledi were using tools, burying their dead, and carving signs into cave walls before humans?
Did this documentary make you more interested in the origins of the human species? Why, or why not?
What do you think defines the early human species?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: July 17, 2023
- Cast: Lee Berger , Keneiloe Molopyane , Agustín Fuentes , John Hawks
- Director: Mark Mannucci
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Documentary
- Topics: History , Science and Nature
- Run time: 93 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: July 21, 2023
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