Archaic human from Luzon, Philippines
Homo luzonensis
, also known as
Callao Man
and locally called "
Ubag
" after a mythical caveman,
[2]
[3]
is an extinct, possibly
pygmy
, species of
archaic human
from the
Late Pleistocene
of
Luzon
, the Philippines. Their remains, teeth and
phalanges
, are known only from
Callao Cave
in the northern part of the island dating to before 50,000 years ago. They were initially identified as belonging to modern humans in 2010, but in 2019, after the discovery of more specimens, they were placed into a new species based on the presence of a wide range of traits similar to modern humans as well as to
Australopithecus
and early
Homo
. In 2023, a study found that the fossilized remains were 134,000 ± 14,000 years old, much older than previously thought.
[4]
Their ancestors, who may have been Asian
H. erectus
or some other even earlier
Homo
, would have needed to have made a sea crossing of several miles
[a]
at minimum to reach the island. Archaic human presence on Luzon dates to as early as 771,000 to 631,000 years ago.
[5]
The inhabitants of the cave dragged in mainly
Philippine deer
carcasses, and used tools for butchering.
Taxonomy
[
edit
]
Interior of
Callao Cave
,
Luzon
, the Philippines
The first remains were discovered in 2007 in
Callao Cave
in Northern
Luzon
, the Philippines. In 2010, French anthropologist
Florent Detroit
[
fr
]
and Filipino archaeologist
Armand Mijares
and colleagues identified them as belonging to modern humans.
[6]
In 2019, after the discovery of 12 new specimens and based on the apparent presence of both modern-humanlike and primitive
Australopithecus
-like features, they reassigned the remains (and other
hominin
findings from the cave) to a new species,
Homo luzonensis
, the specific name deriving from the name of the island.
[1]
The
holotype
, CCH6, comprises the upper right
premolars
and
molars
. The
paratypes
are: CCH1, a right
third metatarsal bone
of the foot; CCH2 and CCH5, two
phalanges
of the fingers; CCH3 and CCH4, two phalanges of the foot; CCH4, a left premolar; and CCH9, a right third molar. CCH7 represents a juvenile
femoral shaft
. These represent at least three individuals. The specimens are kept at the
National Museum of the Philippines
, Manila.
[1]
The exact taxonomic placement of
H. luzonensis
is unknown, and, like for other tropical hominins, DNA extraction failed.
[1]
It is possible that?like what is hypothesized for
H. floresiensis
from
Flores
, Indonesia?
H. luzonensis
descended from an early
H. erectus
dispersal across Southeast Asia. It is also possible that these two insular archaic humans descend from an entirely different
Homo
species possibly earlier than
H. erectus
.
[7]
[8]
The bones were dated to before 50,000 years ago,
[1]
and there is evidence of hominin activity on the island as early as 771,000 ? 631,000 years ago.
[5]
Anatomy
[
edit
]
Comparison of teeth (above) and foot
phalanges
(below) of
A. afarensis
(left),
H. luzonensis
(center), and modern humans (right)
|
|
−10 —
–
−9 —
–
−8 —
–
−7 —
–
−6 —
–
−5 —
–
−4 —
–
−3 —
–
−2 —
–
−1 —
–
0 —
| | |
|
Like other
endemic
fauna on Luzon, as well as
H. floresiensis
,
H. luzonensis
may have shrunk in size due to
insular dwarfism
. However, more complete remains are needed to verify size.
[1]
[9]
Much like
H. floresiensis
,
H. luzonensis
presents a number of characteristics more similar to
Australopithecus
and early
Homo
than to modern humans and more recent
Homo
.
[1]
The teeth of
H. luzonensis
are small and mesiodistally (the width of the tooth) shortened. The molars are smaller than those of
H. floresiensis
. Like other recent
Homo
and modern humans, the molars decrease in size towards the back of the mouth, and the
enamel
-
dentin
juncture lacks well defined wavy crenulations. The enamel-dentine juncture is most similar to that of Asian
H. erectus
. The premolars are oddly large compared to the molars, with more similar proportions to
Paranthropus
than any other
Homo
, though
H. luzonensis
postcanine teeth differ greatly from those of
Paranthropus
in size and shape.
H. luzonensis
premolars share many characteristics with those of
Australopithecus
,
Paranthropus
, and early
Homo
.
[1]
The finger bones are long, narrow, and curved, which is seen in
Australopithecus
,
H. floresiensis
, and sometimes modern humans. They are
dorso-palmarly
(from the palm to the back of the hand) compressed, and have well developed
flexor sheath attachment
, which are seen in
Australopithecus
and the early
H. habilis
. Unique to
H. luzonensis
, the dorsal beak near the knuckle was strongly developed and angled towards the wrist rather than the finger. The foot bones are morphologically unique among
Homo
, and are distinguishable from those of
A. africanus
and
A. afarensis
.
Australopithecus
limbs are generally interpreted as being adaptations for
bipedalism
and potentially
suspensory behavior
in the trees, but the fragmentary record of
H. luzonensis
limits extrapolation of locomotory behavior.
[1]
Since the remains are so fragmentary, it is difficult to make accurate estimates of actual size for this species, but they may have been within the range of modern day
Philippine Negritos
, who average 151 cm (4 ft 11 in) in height for males and 142 cm (4 ft 8 in) for females.
[8]
Culture
[
edit
]
The ancestors of
H. luzonensis
crossed the
Huxley Line
into the Philippines.
Because Luzon has always been an island in the
Quaternary
, the ancestors of
H. luzonensis
would have had to have made a substantial sea crossing over the
Huxley Line
.
[1]
About 90% of the bone fragments from Callao Cave belong to the
Philippine deer
, which suggests that deer carcasses were periodically brought into the cave. With the exception of
Palawan
(where there were
tigers
), there is no evidence of large carnivores ever inhabiting the Philippines during the Pleistocene, which attributes these remains to human activity. The
Philippine warty pig
and an extinct
bovid
were also present. There are cut marks on a deer tibia, and a lack of tools in the cave could either have resulted from the use of organic material for tools rather than stone, or the processing of meat away from the cave.
[10]
The
Rizal Archaeological Site
situated in
Rizal, Kalinga
,
Philippines
and within an area that has been subject to archaeological explorations since the 1950s, yielded an almost complete skeleton of a rhino (the extinct
Nesorhinus philippinensis
), which had been butchered by early hominins c. 709,000 years ago. Together with the rhinoceros skeleton, six
lithic cores
, forty-nine
lithic flakes
, and two
hammerstones
, were found at the Rizal site. Some cores and the used lithic raw material show a similarity to the
chert
assemblage from the
Lower Paleolithic
Arubo 1 site in central Luzon.
[11]
[12]
Also present were the remains of the elephant-relative
Stegodon
, the Philippine deer, freshwater turtles, and
monitor lizards
.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Given that this crossing may have happened at any time over the course of a few 10s of millennia, many failed or successful phases or methods of transference may have occurred. The means by which these hominids ultimately arrived on Luzon is not a settled question but their establishment of permanent residence and subsequent isolation there is now well established. See ancient
maritime history
for more.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Detroit, F.; Mijares, A. S.; Corny, J.; Daver, G.; Zanolli, C.; Dizon, E.; Robles, E.; Grun, R. & Piper, P. J. (2019).
"A new species of
Homo
from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines"
(PDF)
.
Nature
.
568
(7751): 181?186.
Bibcode
:
2019Natur.568..181D
.
doi
:
10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9
.
PMID
30971845
.
S2CID
106411053
.
- ^
Panela, Shai (April 12, 2019).
"Fossils Of Ancient Human Species Unearthed In The Philippines"
.
Asian Scientist
.
- ^
Gascon, Melvin.
"Philippine cave discovery: Meet 'Homo luzonensis'
"
.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
.
- ^
Rainer Grun, Chris Stringer,
Direct dating of human fossils and the ever-changing story of human evolution
.
Quaternary Science Reviews
, Volume 322, 2023, 108379, ISSN 0277-3791
- ^
a
b
c
Ingicco, T.; van den Bergh, G. D.; Jago-on, C.; Bahain, J.-J.; Chacon, M. G.; Amano, N.; Forestier, H.; King, C.; Manalo, K.; Nomade, S.; Pereira, A.; Reyes, M. C.; Semah, A.-M.; Shao, Q.; Voinchet, P.; Falgueres, C.; Albers, P. C. H.; Lising, M.; Lyras, G.; Yurnaldi, D.; Rochette, P.; Bautista, A. & de Vos, J. (2018).
"Earliest known hominin activity in the Philippines by 709 thousand years ago"
.
Nature
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Bibcode
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.
doi
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.
PMID
29720661
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S2CID
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.
- ^
Mijares, A. S.; Detroit, F.; Piper, P.; Grun, R.; Bellwood, P.; Aubert, M.; Champion, G.; Cuevas, N.; De Leon, A.; Dizon, E. (2010). "New evidence for a 67,000-year-old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines".
Journal of Human Evolution
.
59
(1): 123?132.
doi
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10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.04.008
.
PMID
20569967
.
- ^
Tocheri, M. W. (2019).
"Previously unknown human species found in Asia raises questions about early hominin dispersals from Africa"
.
Nature News
.
568
(7751): 176?178.
Bibcode
:
2019Natur.568..176T
.
doi
:
10.1038/d41586-019-01019-7
.
PMID
30971838
.
- ^
a
b
Fleming, N. (2019). "Unknown human relative discovered in Philippine cave".
Nature News
.
doi
:
10.1038/d41586-019-01152-3
.
PMID
32269371
.
S2CID
146786512
.
- ^
Wade, L. (April 10, 2019). "New species of ancient human unearthed in the Philippines".
Science
.
364
.
doi
:
10.1126/science.aax6501
.
S2CID
189045520
.
- ^
Mijares, A. M.; Detroit, F.; Piper, P.; et al. (2010). "New evidence for a 67,000-year-old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines".
Journal of Human Evolution
.
59
(1): 123?132.
doi
:
10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.04.008
.
PMID
20569967
.
- ^
Pawlik, Alfred (January 24, 2008).
"[ARCHAEOLOGY IN ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA] The Palaeolithic site of Arubo 1 in central Luzon, Philippines"
.
Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
.
24
.
doi
:
10.7152/bippa.v24i0.11866
(inactive March 9, 2024).
ISSN
1835-1794
.
{{
cite journal
}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of March 2024 (
link
)
- ^
Pawlik, Alfred F. (September 20, 2021).
"Technology, adaptation, and mobility in maritime environments in the Philippines from the Late Pleistocene to Early/Mid-Holocene"
.
Quaternary International
. Variability in Lithic Production Technology during the Range Expansion of Paleolithic Modern Humans: Asian Perspectives.
596
: 109?123.
Bibcode
:
2021QuInt.596..109P
.
doi
:
10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.007
.
ISSN
1040-6182
.
External links
[
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]