Homo Luzonensis

Having a wonderful and bountiful nature and rich resources is one of the Philippines
distinctive identity as part of Mother Earth. Aside from this, our history is also a superb one,
from the Pre-Hispanic Era until present (Fifth Republic of the Philippines). But above all, the
people of this country, the Filipinos are one of a kind, especially their character and traits. But,
do we really know the oldest dweller of the early Philippines, the first Filipinos? Is it the
Negritos? Indonese? or Malay? Who is really the first inhabitants of this archipelago and our late
ancestors?
The year 2007 is a major breakthrough for the Philippines in the field of anthropology.
Why? Because Dr. Armand Salvador Mijares of University of the Philippines just discovered a
new human species, previously unknown to science. It is called Homo luzonensis as it is
particularly found in Callao Cave, Cagayan in Luzon region. It is a 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—identified from a total of seven teeth and six small bones—hosts a patchwork of
ancient and more advanced features. That could mean primitive human relatives left Africa and
made it all the way to South-East Asia, something not previously thought possible.
According to experts, Luzon seemed especially difficult for ancient hominins to reach, as
it had never been connected to the mainland by land bridges, so archaeologists thought that
digging into deeper, older layers of soil wouldn't yield much. That all changed in 2004, when
researchers unveiled Homo floresiensis—a diminutive hominin, also known as the “hobbit,” that
inhabited the Indonesian island of Flores until 50,000 years ago. Inspired, Dr. Mijares returned to
Callao Cave in 2007 to literally dig deeper. Then, they found a layer of breccia, a type of rock
formed from a jumble of other materials. Tantalizingly, this layer contained fragments of bone
that had washed into the cave long ago. At first, the bones seemed to include only animals such
as deer and pigs. But under closer inspection, one piece stood out: a nearly complete foot bone
that looked human.
In 2010, Dr. Mijares and his colleagues unveiled the 67,000-year-old fossil, which they
tentatively suggested belonged to a small-bodied member of Homo sapiens, making it perhaps
the oldest sign of our species anywhere in the Philippines at the time. But Mijares suspected that
it might actually belong to a new species, maybe even a Luzon analog to Homo floresiensis.
However, the team needed more fossils to be sure.
As luck would have it, in 2011, the team—a group of French and Australian researchers,
as well as Mijares himself—found a partial femur, two hand phalanges, two feet phalanges, and
seven teeth, from at least three individuals. The small fossils’ curves and grooves exhibit a
mosaic of so-called mix of both ancient and more advanced traits. The primitive aspects call to
mind our ancient ancestors such as Australopithecus afarensis, the species to which the famous
3.1-million-year-old Lucy skeleton belongs; the derived ones resemble Homo sapiens. One-foot
bone resembles those of the ancient australopithecines. It suggests that climbing was still an
important activity for this species. Looking at the teeth, for example, one upper premolar has
three roots —primitive features. The molars, in contrast, are very small and strikingly modern.
Together those dental traits are a very special combination that doesn’t exist in any of the
comparative samples that have been studied because it is a combination of primitive and derived
traits. While many scientists laud the research for its thoroughness, defining a species from just
13 small bones and teeth is tricky. Though the scientists attempted to extract DNA, they were
unsuccessful, as is common for samples that have stewed for millennia in the heat and humidity
of tropical locales, making it impossible to conduct phylogenetic analyses. Instead they base
their conclusions on detailed examination of the remains, using a range of techniques including
traditional measurements, micro CT scans, and 3-D morphometric analyses.
As for the breakthrough, this new human species discovery is a sensational finding that
involves the changes in Southeast Asia and Philippine history because more or less fifteen years
ago, researchers had a very simplistic narrative of human evolution in Asia, with Homo erectus
going out of Africa, settling in East and Southeast Asia, until they were replaced by Homo
sapiens at around 40-50,000 years ago. Likewise, as Dr. Mijares have said that Philippine island
have been more or less left out in the field of anthropology for a very long time but Homo
luzonensis flips the script, and it continues to challenge the outdated idea that the human line in
our region neatly progressed from less advanced to more advanced species.
The discovery of Homo luzonensis suggests the history of human evolution in our
country is more complicated than we thought. The find shows that human evolution in the region
may have been a highly complicated affair, with three or more human species in Southeast Asia
at around the time our ancestors arrive. Homo luzonensis also challenges prevailing views of
early human dispersal and adaptability that aim to clarify evolutionary history. Now that we
know of this fossil, scientists will be able to study human life that exist in Asia especially in our
country, thousands of years ago in a more detailed lineage. Fossils provide an important picture
of our past. The information gained from fossils can help us to understand the evolution of
people. This information can give important clues for the future of our planet, our nation and our
species. As our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal quoted, "He who does not know how to look back at
where he came from will never get to his destination." Learning about this early human species
which is Homo luzonensis that belong in our family tree and which are our forefathers is one of
the countless reasons for us to have a sense of pride being a Filipino. We, all Filipinos should be
proud and honored because the Philippines is now in the scientific map and part of the huge
realm of human evolution.

Homo Luzonensis

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Having a wonderful and bountiful nature and rich resources is one of the Philippines

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