Callao Cave on Luzon where fossilized remains of a new species of hominin were found.      Photo Credit: Callao Cave Archaeology Project 

The landmark discovery announced in Nature on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 makes Luzon the third Southeast Asian island in the last 15 years to bear signs of ancient human activity. Homo luzonensis, a newly discovered human specie unknown to science, was found in Callao Cave in Peñablanca, Cagayan in northern Philippines. The specie is named after Luzon, the biggest island in the Philippines. It’s possible that Homo luzonensis stood less than three feet tall. The discovery adds growing complexity to the story of human evolution. The more fossils we find, the more we learn that many kinds of humans have lived on Earth.

The small-bodied hominin lived on the island of Luzon at least 50,000 to 67,000 years ago, during the Late Pleistocene epoch. The hominin…