NPR: Bones in cave may rewrite human history

Christopher Joyce (NPR, April 10, 2019); CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Archaeologist Armand Salvador Mijares was digging in this island cave in 2007 when he discovered an ancient bone unlike a modern human's (Callao Cave Archaeology Project).

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Ancient bones and teeth found in a Philippine cave may rewrite human history

The realm of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg)

An unusual species of human [Hobbit?] apparently lived on the island of Luzon in the Philippines as recently as 50,000 years ago.

Based on teeth and bones found there, scientists suspect that these early humans probably stood less than 4 feet tall and had several apelike features.

• In Buddhism these beings are called kumbhandas

Trolls and fairy princesses were real.

Yet, the researchers say, the bones are distinctly human -- from a previously undiscovered species.

The first clue was a bone that surfaced in 2007. Archaeologist Armand Salvador Mijares was digging in a cave on the island of Luzon and found a toe bone.

He says it didn't look like a modern human bone. "There's something peculiar with this bone," he recalls thinking. But one bone wasn't enough to say for sure who or what it belonged to. More