CBC 4/10/2019
Understanding human evolution in Asia now 'messier, more complicated,' scientist saysThirteen 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