<< News >> 'Hobbits' in Indonesia
Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 25 January 2007 Page Views: 16520
Other ArchaeologyCountry: Indonesia Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world. The new species - dubbed "the Hobbit" due to its small size - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago. The fact that little people feature in the legends of modern Flores islanders suggests we might have to take tales of Bigfoot and the Yeti more seriously. ."The whole idea that you need a particular brain size to do anything intelligent is completely blown away by this find."
Dr Henry Gee, Nature
Australian archaeologists made the discovery while digging at a site called Liang Bua, one of numerous limestone caves on Flores.
The remains of the partial skeleton were found at a depth of 5.9m. At first, the researchers thought it was the body of a child. But further investigation revealed otherwise.
Wear on the teeth and growth lines on the skull confirm it was an adult, features of the pelvis identify it as female and a leg bone confirms that it walked upright like we do.
"When we got the dates back from the skeleton and we found out how young it was, one anthropologist working with us said it must be wrong because it had so many archaic [primitive] traits," said co-discoverer Mike Morwood, associate professor of archaeology at the University of New England, Australia.
The 18,000-year-old specimen, known as Liang Bua 1 or LB1, has been assigned to a new species called Homo floresiensis . It was about one metre tall with long arms and a skull the size of a large grapefruit.
The researchers have since found remains belonging to six other individuals from the same species.
LB1 shared its island with a pony-sized dwarf elephant called Stegodon, a golden retriever-sized rat, giant tortoises and huge lizards - including Komodo dragons.
More at BBC News on the links below
Note: Clearance has been achieved to further investigate the environment of Homo Floriensis. See link in comment.