Diggings in Philippine cave find new early human species



NEW FIND. A handout image from Florent Detroit and taken on August 9, 2011 shows a view of the excavation in the Callao Cave north of Luzon, where an international multidisciplinary team discovered a new hominin species, Homo luzonensis. Photo by Florent Detroit/AFP

NEW FIND. A handout image from Florent Detroit and taken on August 9, 2011 shows a view of the excavation in the Callao Cave north of Luzon, where an international multidisciplinary team discovered a new hominin species, 
Homo luzonensis. Photo by Florent Detroit/AFP
TOKYO, Japan – The human family tree has acquired a new branch with the unearthing of a previously unknown species of human that lived on an island in today's Philippines some 50,000 years ago.
The species, dubbed Homo luzonensis after the island of Luzon where its remains were found, is not a direct ancestor of modern day humans, but rather a distant ancient relative.
But the discovery, published in the journal Nature on Thursday, April 11, adds to a growing body of evidence that human evolution is not as linear as was once thought.
It also raises questions, including how the species arrived on the island and who its ancestors were.
The "remarkable discovery... will no doubt ignite plenty of scientific debate over the coming weeks, months and years", said Matthew Tocheri, associate professor of anthropology at Canada's Lakehead University, in a review commissioned by Nature.
The researchers from France, the Philippines and Australia found the remains in the Callao Cave, where a bone dating back 67,000 years was discovered in 2007.
It was not initially clear which type of early human that bone came from, but more recently the researchers discovered 7 teeth and 5 different bones at the site, dating back between 50,000 and 67,000 years.
With more evidence to examine, from at least 3 individuals, they were able to build the case that the remains came from a previously unknown type of human.
"From the beginning, we realized the unusual characteristics of these fossils," Florent Detroit, who co-led the study, told AFP at a press briefing.

"We completed the comparisons and analyses, and it confirmed that this was something special, unlike any previously described species of hominins in the homo genus," added Detroit, a palaeoanthropologist at France's Musee de l'Homme.

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