The excavation did not yield a complete skeleton: seven teeth, two hand bones, three foot bones and one thigh bone were found, thought to belong to two adults and one child. Nevertheless, the fossils provide intriguing clues to the appearance and lifestyle of Homo luzonensis.

The tiny teeth suggest the human would have been shorter than 4ft tall – possibly even shorter than another ancient species, Homo floresiensis, sometimes called the “hobbit”, also found in south-east Asia and dating to about the same period. Most intriguing was the presence of a curved toe bone, which closely resembled the anatomy of far more ancient species such as Australopithecus, known only in Africa and dating to 2m-3m years ago.