Only later, about 1.8 million years ago, do the first fossils of Homo appear outside of Africa. One common species was Homo erectus, a species that spread to East and Southeast Asia. The youngest Homo erectus fossils, discovered in Indonesia, may be just 143,000 years old.
Our own lineage kept evolving in Africa. Homo sapiens emerged about 300,000 years ago, and only 100,000 years ago did we start leaving the continent. By 50,000 years ago, our species had reached Australia.
One hypothesis, then, is that Homo floresiensis evolved from Homo erectus. So here was the question for Philippine archaeologists: Could hominins have reached Luzon as well as Flores?
“That inspired me to go back and go deep,” Dr. Mijares, now a professor at the University of the Philippines, said in an interview.
In 2007, he returned to Callao Cave. As his team dug into the cave floor, the researchers hit a layer of bones. At first, Dr. Mijares was disappointed by the fossils, which mostly belonged to deer and other
