Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis by Atelier Elisabeth DaynesKINEZ RIZAScientists have discovered hominin remains from the Indonesian island of Flores that may belong to the “hobbit”-like hominin species Homo floresiensis, according to a study published today (June 8) in Nature. In a second study, the researchers estimate that the specimens are around 700,000 years old. The findings provide the strongest evidence to date that H. floresiensis was indeed a distinct species, and significantly push back the age when these small hominins first appeared.
“It really is the final nail in the coffin for people who believe hobbits were pathological modern humans,” anthropologist William Harcourt-Smith of Lehman College in New York City, who was not involved with the work, told The Scientist. “The whole package speaks to something very Homo floresiensis-like.”
Scientists first discovered skeletal remains of the species now known as H. floresiensis in 2003 in a cave in Western Flores called Liang Bua, launching a debate over whether they belonged to a new species or were simply modern humans with dwarfism or a related condition. Two studies published in 2009 largely settled that debate, but questions remained about how the small hominins first emerged on this Indonesian island. Some researchers believe the hobbit evolved from early Asian ...
