42 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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At the northern tip of the Philippine
island of Luzon lies Callao Cave, an
expansive, seven-chamber limestone
warren. In April, researchers reported in
the journal Nature that they’d uncovered
the bones of a now-extinct, previously
unknown human species near the far end
of the first chamber. The discovery adds
to growing evidence that human evolu-
tion and dispersal out of Africa is much
more complicated than scientists once
thought — and that we’re just startingto understand Southeast Asia’s role in
that story.
“There is no reason why archaeological
research in the Philippines couldn’t dis-
cover several species of hominin,” Philip
Piper, an archaeologist at the Australian
National University who coauthored the
new research, said in a statement. “It’s
probably just a matter of time.”
In 2007, Piper and an international team
of researchers discovered a foot bone in
Callao Cave that belonged to a member ofNew Member of Our Family
Tree Found in Philippines
BY RONI DENGLER
CA
LL
AO
CAVE
ARCH
AE
OL
OGY^ PRO
JECT^ (^2)Remains preserved in Callao Cave (top) include
several teeth (above) with traits that established
the individuals belonged to the genus Homo —
but also raised questions about their evolution.