50,000-year-old fossils in the Philippines hint at a new species of early human
Seven teeth, five hand and foot bones, and a partial femur point to a previously unknown population of early humans. Time will tell if it was truly a distinct lineage.
BY KATHERINE J. WU
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019
Callao Cave on Luzon Island in the Philippines, where a new set of 50,000-to-70,000-year-old human fossils has been discovered.
Image Credit: Callao Cave Archaeology Project
The history of human evolution might be getting yet another rewrite.
According to a study published today in the journal Nature, a vast, chambered cave in the Philippines holds the remains of a previously unknown, small-bodied population of early humans who lived some 67,000 years ago. If confirmed to be a distinct species, the newly-dubbed Homo luzonensis could add yet another branch to our ever-growing family tree.
Regardless of species designation, though, the presence of any ancient human remains on this remote island locale reaffirms the role Southeast Asia played in shaping our evolution—and suggests our ancestors weren’t quite as landlocked as once thought.
“This is a really welcome and exciting addition,” says Carol Ward, a biological anthropologist at the University of Missouri who was not involved in the study. “We now have evidence of [ancient humans] in a time and place that has been very poorly understood, and yet was undoubtedly important for the biology and evolution of our species.”
But Ward and others remain cautious about assigning an entirely new species to the remains, which contain just 13 fossils: a smattering of hand and foot bones, a few teeth, and a partial femur. Additionally, at least two adults and one child are jumbled up in the mix, muddying the picture of what a full skeleton might look like. “New fossils are always exciting,” Ward says. “But they always raise more questions than they answer.”
More:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/homo-luzonensis/