University of the Philippines Discovers Mystery Seafaring Ancestor

From New Scientist

The foot bone was discovered during an excavation of Callao cave by Armand Mijares of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and his colleagues.

At depths of 2.5 to 3 metres  "well below the layer of stone-tool flakes and burnt animal bones from 26,000 years ago, the time the oldest evidence of human occupation of Luzon" the team found a layer rich in the bones and teeth of deer. It also included a fossilised human third metatarsal, the central long bone in the foot, which was dated to 67,000 years ago.

Mijares and colleagues say that the bone is definitely human, and they are provisionally calling it a lightly built modern human. Yet it's not a perfect match with any known group of humans.

Although the bone's size matches those of the pygmy Negrito people who now live on Luzon, Mijares notes that its shape is unusual, and that its size also falls within the ranges of Homo habilis and Homo floresiensis. Jungers calls its anatomy "intriguing" because it doesn't match that of any known human group.

From: http://ping.fm/0nf4b