Armand Belaño Mijares

The deep excavations at Callao Cave produced the earliest known hominin on Luzon Island. The discovery of new hominin species, Homo luzonensis, has brought scientific attention to the Philippines and Southeast Asia. When the breccia layer containing the Homo luzonensis fossils was discovered in 2007, the quest to recover more diagnostic fossil parts commenced. To locate the probable location of these fossils, we relied on understanding the depositional history of the sedimentary layers. It was surmised that these fossils were deposited through a paleo-channel with the water flowing into the cave via a sinkhole. The 2024 excavation season has proven that the flow of the paleo-channel is indeed from the south going to the northeast direction. The very scanty material recovered from the 2nd chamber shows it could not have been the source. Looking at the excavation unit map it appears that there are no more probable areas to excavate in the antechamber. The second chamber also has been proven to contain no hominid fossil remains. The excavation component of the Callao Cave archaeology project would now end. The material analysis will continue. The quest to recover more diagnostic Homo luzonensis fossils must now be conducted in other nearby caves.