(CNN)Hidden deep within the innards of a South African cave lay human

evolution's equivalent of Tutankhamun's tomb. A treasure trove of 15

skeletons -- eight children, five adults and two adolescents -- all members of a
previously unknown species of human ancestor. In the field of paleontology,
uncovering just one complete skeleton has been likened to winning the lottery,
but lying here were over 1,500 fossils amounting to multiple jackpots. This
was the largest collection of homin remains -- part of the human lineage --
ever discovered on the continent. In 2013, American paleoanthropologist Lee
Berger was tantalizingly close to finding them. But there was a catch.
Separating Berger from this bounty of bones was a narrow passageway in the
rock just 7 inches (18 centimeters) high, known as "Superman's Crawl." It was
the only entrance and exit available to the fossils and would require
superhuman powers to squeeze through it, particularly for a man of Berger's
stature. The gap was roughly the width of a letterbox and was not really an
option for Berger. But he found a way to get round it. Berger posted a job
description on Facebook calling out for skinny cavers to join his team at the
University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. In reality, being skinny was not
enough, as the soon-to-be employees would need to hold their breath in order
to wriggle through the constricted passage. To Berger's amazement, over 60
qualified applicants got in touch. In the end, he chose an all-female team of
six. He called them his "Underground Astronauts". Together, they were about
to bring home a baffling new addition to the human family tree. Berger had
already firmly established himself in the field after discovering, in 2008, the
fossils of yet another new species: Australopithecus sediba. Berger's nine-
year-old son Matthew famously stumbled upon part of the skeleton -- "Dad I
found a fossil!" -- while accompanying his father on a dig at the Malapa Nature
Reserve, north of Johannesburg. But it was his discovery of naledi that really
set Berger's name in the paleoanthropology stone, as it were. Finding Sediba,
some five years earlier, had cemented Berger's conviction that this area of
South Africa had more treasures hidden beneath the surface. It had already
been dubbed the "Cradle of Humankind" for its abundance of fossils
discovered in the 20th century. Based on your reading of the passage, answer
the questions given below: i. Why was the discovery described as a ‘treasure
trove’? ii. How can the discovery be compared to the discovery of
Tutankhamun's tomb? iii. What difficulty did Berger face with regard to the
find? iv. From the passage, choose two qualities required of “Underground
Astronauts’? v. What was the task assigned to this team of ‘Underground
Astronauts’? vi. What was the discovery Berger made in 2008? vii. Why is the
place described as “cradle of civilization”?