Author Topic: New species of human discovered in a cave in the Philippines  (Read 1767 times)

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Offline Sanguine

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New species of human discovered in a cave in the Philippines
« on: April 11, 2019, 02:18:29 am »
And, it's not Hobbits.

Quote


10 April 2019
Callao cave

Callao cave housed bones from a previously unknown ancestor

Callao Cave Archaeology Project

By Colin Barras

IN CALLAO cave on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, history may be repeating itself. About 16 years ago, archaeologists working on the relatively nearby island of Flores discovered the remains of a previously unknown ancient human species.

Now a different team says Luzon was once home to a mysterious human species that it has named Homo luzonensis. The discovery raises an obvious question: did further human species evolve on other islands in the region?

...

This means the fossils are roughly the same age as some of the “hobbit” human remains found about 3000 kilometres to the south on Flores in 2003. But the Luzon fossils have distinct features and so belong to a different species, according to Détroit and Mijares (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9)...

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232253-900-new-species-of-human-discovered-in-a-cave-in-the-philippines/?utm_medium=SOC&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1554917991

Online Elderberry

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Re: New species of human discovered in a cave in the Philippines
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2019, 11:08:28 pm »
CBC 4/10/2019

Understanding human evolution in Asia now 'messier, more complicated,' scientist says

Thirteen fossil bones and teeth excavated in a cave in the Philippines represent an enigmatic previously unknown human species, probably small in stature and possessing an unexpected mix of archaic and modern traits, scientists said on Wednesday.

The discovery of remains of at least three individuals from this species, named Homo luzonensis, in Callao Cave on the northern part of the island of Luzon, marked the second time in the 21st century that a bygone member of the human family has been found on southeast Asian islands.

And it makes our understanding of human evolution in Asia "messier, more complicated and whole lot more interesting," says Matthew Tocheri of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont.

In a study released Wednesday by the journal Nature, scientists describe a cache of seven teeth and six bones from the feet, hands and thigh of at least three individuals. They were recovered from Callao Cave in 2007, 2011 and 2015. Tests on two samples show minimum ages of 50,000 years and 67,000 years.

In 2003, fossils of another island-dwelling species — Homo floresiensis, dubbed the "Hobbit" due to its diminutive size — were unearthed in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, some 3,000 km from the Luzon site. There is no indication the two species interacted or were closely related.

Homo luzonensis was a contemporary not only of the Hobbit but of our own species, Homo sapiens, which emerged in Africa roughly 300,000 years ago.

More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bones-fossils-philippines-human-relative-1.5092607

Offline Mod5

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Re: New species of human discovered in a cave in the Philippines
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2019, 12:06:06 am »
Topics merged.