Researchers discover fossil of human older than Tabon Man

Move over, Tabon Man. Callao Man is here.

Evidence has emerged that the islands comprising the Philippines could have been inhabited by humans more than a dozen millennia before the so-called Tabon Man of Palawan, long thought to be the archipelago’s earliest human remains.

A team of archaeologists led by Dr. Armand Mijares of the University of the Philippines-Diliman has confirmed that a foot bone they discovered in Callao Cave in Cagayan province was at least 67,000 years old. Tabon Man’s remains were a relatively young 50,000 years old.

Photo: The foot bone discovered in Callao Cave was a mere 61 millimeters or 2.4 inches. / Dr. Armand Mijares.

“So far this could be the earliest human fossil found in the Asia-Pacific region. The presence of humans in Luzon shows these early humans already possess knowledge of seacraft-making in this early period," Mijares told GMANews.TV in an exclusive interview conducted by email in between archaeological digs.

Mijares acknowledged being “shocked and elated" at the discovery, adding that it was something people in his field dream of. “I am a Pleistocene Archaeologist and our efforts are meant to unravel the deep past," he said.

His team’s findings were recently published in the scholarly journal Human Evolution, but the actual discovery of the bone occurred in 2007. However, it was not clear then just how old the fossil was. Mijares said they were able to approximate its age through a method called “uranium-series dating."

The primary theory is that Callao Man, or his ancestors, reached Luzon from what is now Indonesia by raft at a time when experts did not think human beings were capable of traveling long distances by sea.

However, the scientists also found signs that Callao Man might not have been fully human, but only a species akin to modern man... Gmanews.tv / Traductor

Related: New evidence for a 67,000-year-old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines. Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 59, Issue 1, July 2010, Pages 123-132, doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.04.008