The discovery of fossils in a cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia in the early 2000s showed that small people, named Homo floresiensis, roamed the island between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago.
The fossils indicated that this human species was very short, and that they measured just over a meter. The arms, on the other hand, were relatively long. Because they were so small, they have been nicknamed “the hobbits” – after the characters in The Lord of the Rings.
Even a little lower?
As recently as 2016, scientists suspected that our earlier relatives could be even lower than first thought. Studies of jawbones and teeth collected from a new site – Mata Menge, located about 45 miles from the cave where the first remains of Homo floresiensis were discovered, indicated that they were even shorter.
Further analysis of a small arm bone fragment and teeth suggests that the ancestors were 6 centimeters shorter and that they roamed Indonesia 700,000 years ago.
– The studies show that it was a question of very small individuals, says Dean Falk, an anthropologist at Florida State University, who was not himself involved in the research.
The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
How did they fit in?
Scientists have debated how these “hobbits” evolved to be so small and where they fit into the history of human evolution. They are believed to be among the last early human species to die out.
Scientists do not yet know whether Homo floresiensis shrunk from an earlier, taller human species called Homo erectus, which lived in the area, or whether they could descend from an earlier and so far unknown wave of emigration from Africa by very primitive species of Homo. Or if it was a case of disease abnormalities that made them shorter.
– More research – and more fossils – is needed to determine the place of these “hobbits” in human evolution, says Matt Tocheri, an anthropologist at Lakehead University in Canada.
– This question is still unanswered and will continue to be the center of research for a long time to come, writes Tocheri in an email. He himself is not involved in the research programme.
Stone tools
According to Store norske lexikon, stone tools and the remains of both mammals, birds, reptiles and snails were also found in the cave on Flores. Among the mammals, there are many remains of the proboscis stegodon, which occurred on Flores in a dwarf form, and various rats, some of them giant-sized.
Many of the bone remains of stegodon in the cave have marks from stone tools, which indicate that the meat has been food for humans, and that it was therefore humans who drew the animals into the cave.
In the uppermost layers of the cave there are remains of modern humans (Homo sapiens) and their somewhat more advanced tools. These finds are approximately 10,000 years old.
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2024-08-11 12:34:46
