Discovery by National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) and Muséum Nationale d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) of bones and stone tools in February 2014 was finally verified and published this year, confirming the presence of early humans in the Philippines during the mid-Pleistocene epoch around 700,000 years ago.
Latest scientific discovery by paleoanthropologist team from MNHN and NMP has confirmed existence of early humans in northern Luzon during the mid-Pleistocene epoch. The remains of rhinoceros philippinensis were unearthed in the municipality of Rizal in Kalinga province. Having matched with the stone tools found alongside it, and bearing cut marks and percussion marks, it is strong to assume that these were the same tools used to butcher and consume the rhinoceros. The discovery also implies the presence of early humans—must have been homo erectus who existed during the Pleistocene epoch—who were intelligent and equipped enough to hunt, butcher, and consume the said species of megafauna.
"We now have a better understanding of the land that our country sits on now," said Mylene Lising from the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Ateneo de Manila University and a member of the archaeology team. "Previously we have the 67,000 year old meta tarsal discovered by Dr. Mijares in 2007 and that was evidence of early human occupation in the islands. Now we have evidence of human presence in the Philippines ten times older than previously thought."
The study entitled, "Earliest known hominin activity in the Philippines by 709 thousand years ago", by Thomas Ingicco et al. was published in the international journal Nature on May 2, 2018. By various dating methods such as electron spin resonance of quartz grains, single crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating, and electron spin resonance uranium-series dating of the enamel of the rhinoceros' tooth, the age of the rhinoceros fossil was confirmed at 709,000 years old and the stone tools were from the same period. Even the date of the clayey sediment were also confirmed to be from the mid-Pleistocene epoch. The area looked like the large mouth of a river flowing towards the larger paleo-Cagayan River. Trees were most certainly present 709,000 years ago, but this landscape was repeatedly disturbed by volcanic eruptions from a still unknown area.
The fossilised remains which include bones and teeth was 75 per cent complete and displayed butcher marks allegedly from 57 stone tools found near it. Large pebble stones used as anvil and stone flakes for defleshing were among those that have been discovered. Besides rhinoceros philippinensis, the 16 square-metre excavation site was also found with fragments of deer, tortoise, lizard, and the extinct relative of elephants—the stegodon.