From Michael Greshko at National Geographic:
Someone butchered a rhinoceros in the Philippines hundreds of thousands of years before modern humans arrived—but who?
But the age of the remains makes them especially remarkable: The carved bones are most likely between 631,000 and 777,000 years old, with researchers’ best estimate coming in around 709,000 years old. The research—partially funded by the National Geographic Society—pushes back occupation of the Philippines to before the known origin of our species, Homo sapiens. The next-earliest evidence of Philippine hominins comes from Luzon’s Callao Cave, in the form of a 67,000-year-old foot bone.
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“It’s really, really exciting—it’s now becoming increasingly clear that ancient forms of hominins were able to make significant deep-sea crossings,” says Adam Brumm, a paleoanthropologist at Griffith University who studies H. floresiensis. More.
We were talking about Neanderthals sailing the Mediterranean the other day. It might help to remember that many of our ancestors were often desperate and the basic idea isn’t that difficult. Getting from a log or raft of logs tied with leather to a luxy yacht, now that’s difficult. But it wasn’t their goal. 😉
See also: Revolutionary stone tools found in India “much earlier than thought,” 385 kya
Stone tools confirmed from 3.4 mya?
Did Neanderthals sail the Mediterranean? Some interesting evidence.
The Little Lady of Flores spoke from the grave. But said what, exactly?
and
What can we responsibly believe about human evolution?
Remember Thor Heyerdahl?