Homo luzonensis

Homo luzonensis Temporal range: late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene, 0.134 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
CCH6a–e, molar and premolar teeth
CCH1, a 67,000 year old third metatarsal bone
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Homininae
Tribe:	Hominini
Genus:	Homo
Species:	†H. luzonensis
Binomial name
†Homo luzonensis Détroit et al., 2019[1]

Homo luzonensis, also known as Callao Man and locally called "Ubag" after a mythical caveman,^[2][3] is an extinct, possibly pygmy, species of archaic human from the Late Pleistocene of Luzon, the Philippines. Their remains, teeth and phalanges, are known only from Callao Cave in the northern part of the island dating to before 50,000 years ago. They were initially identified as belonging to modern humans in 2010, but in 2019, after the discovery of more specimens, they were placed into a new species based on the presence of a wide range of traits similar to modern humans as well as to Australopithecus and early Homo. In 2023, a study found that the fossilized remains were 134,000 ± 14,000 years old, much older than previously thought.^[4]

Their ancestors, who may have been Asian H. erectus or some other even earlier Homo, would have needed to have made a sea crossing of several miles at minimum to reach the island. Hominin presence on Luzon dates to as early as 771,000 to 631,000 years ago.^[5] The inhabitants of the cave dragged in mainly Philippine deer carcasses, and used tools for butchering.