Long-lost cousin of modern humans found analyzing bones from Philippines cave

NEW YORK — Scientists have discovered a long-lost cousin of modern humans by analyzing fossil teeth and bones found in the Philippines.

The fossils came from a cave on the island of Luzon. In a paper presented Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers said two of the specimens were at least 50,000 years and 67,000 years old. Around that time, east Asia was also occupied by our own species as well as Neanderthals and some other human relatives.

The creature apparently used stone tools and its small teeth suggest it might have been rather small-bodied.

One of the toe bones and the overall pattern of tooth shapes and sizes differ from what’s been seen before, but scientists don’t know exactly how the creature is related to us or our other close evolutionary kin.

from Canoe http://bit.ly/2IoHP4R