First it was the "Hobbits" on the island of Flores (Homo floresiensis) and two years ago it was another discovery in the Philippines (Homo luzonensis). Now it is looking like a third human species has been identified, one which lived on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi -- but much more recently than the other two (only some 7000 years ago).
An international team of researchers discovered a largely complete and well preserved skeleton with skull in the southern portion of the island in a cave known as Leang Panninge ("Bat Cave" -- no, there was no sign of Bruce Wayne) and have sequenced the DNA from a piece of the skull from a young woman who lived back then and while found that she shares a large percentage of DNA matched that of Papua New Guineans and Aboriginal Australians living today, much of it didn't. Also, like the genome of those two indigenous groups, her genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA (the extinct Ice Age group thought to have interbred with Neanderthals as well as Homo sapiens (us).
Basically, her genome represents a previously unknown divergent human lineage, which does not appear anywhere else on the planet today.
The researchers believe that the girl was from a group who had been in Sulawesi since the arrival of modern humans up to 30,000 years earlier. These people, called the Toalean appear to have been largely restricted to the southern peninsula of the island and were around as recently as 1500 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers who killed their prey with stone-tipped arrowheads known as Maros points and may be responsible for ancient cave art in the area as well.
Does all this mean that they will be declared a separate human species. No. Not really. A good deal more would be needed. So far, it looks like they represent a distinct group but that does not automatically equate to species.
An international team of researchers discovered a largely complete and well preserved skeleton with skull in the southern portion of the island in a cave known as Leang Panninge ("Bat Cave" -- no, there was no sign of Bruce Wayne) and have sequenced the DNA from a piece of the skull from a young woman who lived back then and while found that she shares a large percentage of DNA matched that of Papua New Guineans and Aboriginal Australians living today, much of it didn't. Also, like the genome of those two indigenous groups, her genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA (the extinct Ice Age group thought to have interbred with Neanderthals as well as Homo sapiens (us).
Basically, her genome represents a previously unknown divergent human lineage, which does not appear anywhere else on the planet today.
The researchers believe that the girl was from a group who had been in Sulawesi since the arrival of modern humans up to 30,000 years earlier. These people, called the Toalean appear to have been largely restricted to the southern peninsula of the island and were around as recently as 1500 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers who killed their prey with stone-tipped arrowheads known as Maros points and may be responsible for ancient cave art in the area as well.
Does all this mean that they will be declared a separate human species. No. Not really. A good deal more would be needed. So far, it looks like they represent a distinct group but that does not automatically equate to species.
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