Homo luzonensis facts for kids
Homo luzonensis is the name given to some fossil bones of a hominin. The place of discovery was in the north of Luzon, a large island in the Philippines.
The remains are about 67,000 years old. They are small bones and teeth from Callao Cave. Researchers think they are from a hitherto unknown species. At least one expert, Aida Gómez-Robles, "is hesitant to unequivocally say the find represents a new species".
Discovery
The archaeologist who found the remains is Armand Mijares. He had dug in Callao Cave in 2003, but he stopped at a little more than one meter deep. He said that the discovery of Homo floresiensis, a hominin from about 50,000 BP found in Indonesia in 2004, led him to return to the cave in 2007. About a meter and a half below where he had stopped before, his team found fossil bones. One of the bones was a human metatarsal, a foot bone.
At first, Mijares thought the fossil bone could belong to a small Homo sapiens. But after more digging in 2011 and 2015, he and his team recovered more bones and some teeth. These remains from at least three individuals were seen as too different to belong to Homo sapiens. Therefore, scientists working on the material have said it is a new species.
Images for kids
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Interior of Callao Cave, Luzon, the Philippines
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Comparison of teeth (above) and foot phalanges (below) of A. afarensis (left), H. luzonensis (center), and modern humans (right)
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The ancestors of H. luzonensis crossed the Huxley Line into the Philippines.
See also
In Spanish: Hombre del Callao para niños
