Bizarre new species of ancient human discovered in Philippines
Scientists discovered a new species of ancient human and named it Homo luzonensis, after the location where it was found—the island of Luzon in the Philippines. This unusual species was identified through several feet and hand bones, along with teeth and a partial femur. From this, scientists realized the bones belonged to a species with bizarre features, unlike any one member of the hominin group.
After analyzing the 12 new bones and teeth, researchers discovered they had features that could not be assigned to any other existing Homo species. Instead, they appeared to be an unusual mix of primitive and later species. The teeth, for example, were very small compared with those of other hominins. The shape was similar to Homo erectus but also shared features with Paranthropus, a hominin that lived between 2.6 million and 1.1 million years ago that had massive jaws and teeth.
John McNabb, a senior lecturer in Paleolithic archaeology at the University of Southampton, U.K., who was not involved in the study, said the findings were “something quite special.” He told Newsweek: “I think many paleoanthropologists will be scratching their heads over this one. It could have been named Homo hotch-potch.
McNabb says where H. luzonensis fits into the hominin story is a puzzle. He said that at this period of time, there were modern humans in the north, to the southwest there may have been relict populations of H. erectus, while in the east there was H. floresiensis.
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