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Columnist and Humans

Untangling the enigmatic origins of the human family’s newest species

Five years ago, a fossil found in the Philippines was determined to be from a new species of hominin called Homo luzonensis. Since then, we’ve learned a bit more about the newest member of the human family

By Michael Marshall

12 April 2024

Callao cave in the Philippines, where fossils from Homo luzonensis were found

Florent Detroit/Callao Cave Archaeology Project

This is an extract from Our Human Story, our newsletter about the revolution in archaeology. Sign up to receive it in your inbox for free every month.

On 10 April 2019, our extended family got a bit bigger. A study in Nature reported the discovery of a new species of hominin called Homo luzonensis, from the Philippines. My colleague and fellow fossil enthusiast Colin Barras wrote about it for New Scientist.

It’s been five years since the announcement,…

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