Homo Luzonensis

Homo luzonensis is an extinct species of archaic humans in the genus Homo.[2] In 2007, a third metatarsal bone (MT3) was discovered in Callao Cave, Cagayan in the island of Luzon by Filipino archaeologists Armand Mijares and Philip J. Piper and initially identified as modern human by Florent Détroit. This find was dated using uranium series ablation to an age of 66,700 ± 1000 years before present, while associated faunal remains and a hominin tooth found in 2011 delivered dates of around 50,000 years ago.[1]

In 2019, Florent Détroit et al. described the subsequent discovery of "twelve additional hominin elements that represent at least three individuals that were found in the same stratigraphic layer of Callao Cave as the previously discovered metatarsal" and identified the fossils as belonging to a newly discovered species, Homo luzonensis, on the basis of differences from previously identified species in the genus Homo. This included H. floresiensis and H. sapiens.[1][3][4] However, some scientists think additional evidence is required to confirm the fossils as a new species, rather than a locally adapted population of other Homo populations, such as H. erectus or Denisovan.