Documentary Review: Unknown: Cave of Bones
Another documentary in the *Unknown* series is dropping on Netflix. This one deals with remains found in a cave system in South Africa. Cave of Bones offers up some interesting theories, but are they sound, and do they make any sense?
In South Africa’s Rising Star Cave System, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger has found the world’s oldest graveyard—and it’s not human. If Lee and his team can prove that this ancient, small-brained, ape-like creature practiced complex burial rituals, it will change everything we know about hominid evolution and the origins of belief.
An Intriguing Exploration
Part of this documentary is highly intriguing as we watch archaeologists and paleoanthropologists traverse through this gnarly cave system to discover human-like bones deep within the recesses. It’s crazy and awesome to see the side view of the cave and then have the cameras show us in close-up detail how precarious certain portions are and how tiny some of the openings become. It drastically limits access, but also raises massive questions about how the bones got so far deep into the cave in the first place.
Some of the discoveries point to a possible burial ritual and maybe even cooking food. There’s a segment that shows bones that appeared to be deliberately put into a grave-type hole—something that hadn’t really been discovered before, at least with these types of hominids and in the age that the researchers believe they lived.
We get to meet the lead scientist, Lee Berger, plus a couple of other researchers and the lead archaeologist who’s in charge of the actual dig as it happens. They’re all genial and somewhat charismatic. A few of them, though, *really* love the camera and are very excited to share their hypotheses and findings.
Speculation Over Science
But the largest and most glaring issue is that about 99% of this comes across as pure speculation and conjecture. The scientists get very excited at the findings and then rattle off their thoughts on what they think motives and behaviors were, in addition to all the actions they believe the hominids carried out. But they don’t offer actual scientific evidence for these hypotheses. This ends up feeling way more like a long episode of The Curse of Oak Island, where we watch a bunch of enthusiasts talk about what they *think* happened.
It could just be the result of the editing process, but so many assumptions are presented here. The researchers point out at different times how areas of the cave system have collapsed, especially towards the front of the cave, limiting how areas are accessed. But then they’re perfectly willing to stick to the assumption that the hominids carried their dead through insanely tight spaces and over large crevasses to bury them, rather than consider the possibility that the area where they found the remains could have had another opening (or maybe a shaft at some point long ago) that’s just no longer accessible.
There’s a lot of guessing when it comes to tool use and scratches found on the walls. There are assumptions made about how and why a particular rock was found where it was. It caught me off guard—it was actually astonishing how wantonly the researchers just automatically dive into their narrative of the importance and worth of this rock. The same goes for lines found on the walls of a cave. I mean, they may actually have meaning or significance, but all we’re shown is the scientists drooling over their own thoughts about what they could mean. Is it art? Is it a form of communication, or maybe record-keeping? The documentary doesn’t ever spend the time to give us facts that could back up all the assumptions that are presented.
Wasted Potential
I went into this documentary with a lot of anticipation and hope. I hadn’t watched the trailer, but anything that takes us through vast cave systems to discover bones or even signs of life from long ago makes me very interested. I’m even willing to go along with some assumptions, but when every aspect seems to be based on the researchers’ own beliefs rather than archaeological data, it kind of goes off the rails and becomes annoying.
I found myself really enjoying the footage of the cave system—it’s claustrophobic and perilous, plus the potential for discovery was exciting. There’s even a segment that features some well-crafted animation that helps to illustrate what the scientists believe happened. It’s a creative way of detailing out what could have otherwise been just boring exposition. Just know, though, that it still doesn’t provide the evidence to back up what’s actually being narrated.
I just needed this based more on facts or data. I’m good with a hypothesis, but beyond that, we’re not shown anything scientific—just postulation by three dudes who were all excited by what they found, which then leads them to dream about what it could mean. I’m not even saying that they’re wrong in their hypothesis (I don’t know!), but we’re not given the info to even help us come alongside them other than to be caught up in their excitement and believe along with them simply out of fervor.
Final Verdict
This is just about 90 minutes long, and while the time went by rather quickly, the lack of objective science delivered makes this a big waste of time and a really disappointing watch. One huge positive that did come out of seeing this is that I’d never even heard of the Rising Star Cave System. Now I can dive in myself and read all about it and balance out the excitement with data. I really hope other documentaries are delivered on this topic and that they take the time to not only show us the findings but also back up theories with solid evidence—at least even correlating what’s been found here to what has been discovered in other areas of the world to show parallels that could then begin to support a hypothesis.
Rating: As a reminder, I don’t give couch ratings to documentaries, but I can’t recommend watching *Unknown: Cave of Bones* on Netflix. This one just turned out to be a big bummer, so watch at your own risk.
Okay, so would you go spelunking into a complex cave system? I like to think that I would, but my imagination also may get the best of me and have me dwell on all the nasty possibilities that could have happened if I was down there. Plus, you know, I’ve seen *The Descent*, so there’s that. But let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
