Tag: hobbit

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Hobbits of Indonesia Evolved from African Ancestor

homo-floresiensis-2

Homo floresiensis, likely evolved from an ancient African ancestor, and not Homo erectus. Remains of H. floresiensis, a mysterious, pygmy like human species, were first found in 2003 on the island of Flores, Indonesia. The unusual creatures have been nicknamed ‘hobbits’, in reference to the creatures from J.R.R Tolkien’s popular fantasy books. The first specimen of the species, found in Liang Bua caves on Flores, would have stood at only 3.5 feet tall, despite being thirty years old at the time of death. The creatures remain shrouded in mystery, with scientists unsure about exactly when they were alive. This in turn has led to uncertainty about their genetic origins and evolution. A 2005 paper published in the journal Nature suggested H. floresiensis could have been around as far back as 95,000 years ago, until as recently as 12,000 years ago. Published in the Journal of Human Evolution, the new study from The Australian National University challenges the widely held belief that H. floresiensis evolved from Homo erectus. Instead, the authors argue that the hobbits’ small stature means they likely evolved from Homo habilis – one of the earliest human species, which lived in Africa around 1.75 million years ago. Much of the argument for H. floresiensis having evolved from H.erectus is based on the fact that H.erectus is the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region – its fossils found on the island of Java. The Australian National University used physical analysis of remains to discredit this conclusion. “The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor,” said study leader Dr Debbie Argue of the ANU School of Archaeology & Anthropology. “It’s possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere.”Argue continued. The researchers reached their results by taking a new approach to looking at H. floresiensis remains. Previous studies have focused on the skull and lower jaw of the ancient hominids. Argue and colleagues however, looked at 133 data points including the skull, jaw, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders. “We looked at whether Homo floresiensis could be descended from Homo erectus,” she said. “We found that if you try and link them on the family tree, you get a very unsupported result. All the tests say it doesn’t fit — it’s just not a viable theory.” In particular, the team found that H.floresiensis had a much more primitive jaw than H.erectus. “Logically, it would be hard to understand how you could have that regression — why would the jaw of Homo erectus evolve back to the primitive condition we see in Homo floresiensis?” said Argue. Professor Mike Lee of Flinders University and the South Australian Museum analysed the data using statistical modelling. He claims the results were clear. “When we did the analysis there was really clear support for the relationship with Homo habilis. Homo floresiensis occupied a very primitive position on the human evolutionary tree,” Professor Lee said. “We can be 99 per cent sure it’s not related to Homo erectus and nearly 100 per cent chance it isn’t a malformed Homo sapiens,” Professor Lee said.]]>

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New Carbon Dating May Tie Early Humans to Hobbits' Extinction

Homo Floresiensis

Homo floresiensis – the “hobbit” species – was discovered, have been carbon dated to approximately 46,000 years ago. Because the upper premolar and lower molar are somewhat younger than any of the known hobbit remains, this new information seems to support the theory that humans were involved in the demise of H. floresiensis. Discovered at Liang Bua in 2003, the remains of H. floresiensis, widely believed to be in the genus Homo, suggest they would have been around 3.5 feet (1.1 m) tall. Nine partial skeletons from nine individuals, including a single complete skull, have been discovered. Recent re-dating efforts in the cave moved the hobbits’ extinction back to approximately 50,000 years ago, when early humans were known to already be living in South-East Asia, according to the study co-authored by geochronologist Richard Roberts and archeologist Thomas Sutikna, both with the University of Wollongong, Australia. “It’s a smoking gun for modern human interaction, but we haven’t yet found the bullet,” Roberts told Nature, which published the research. Although the team is confident the teeth are from H. sapiens, partly because they’re larger than those of H. floresiensis; a paleoanthropologist from University College London, María Martinón-Torres, believes that the premolar appears slightly more primitive. To conclusively prove the teeth are human, she believes they should be compared to a wide range of H. sapiens and H. erectus remains. There is other evidence which puts humans on Flores Island immediately after H. floresiensis disappeared, supporting the possibility that humans contributed to the hobbits’ extinction by out-competing them for limited resources on the island. Animals which may have been a food source for early human hunter–gatherers, including giant storks (Leptoptilos robustus), miniature elephants; known as stegodons (Stegodon florensis insularis), and vultures (Trigonoceps), all vanish from the sediment layers in the cave after approximately 46,000 years ago. During this same time period, freshwater mollusk shells start to show up. These shellfish are commonly found at other early human sites across Africa and Eurasia. Stone tools constructed using chert, a material which is also regularly seen at other early human sites, and evidence of fire hearths are further examples of findings more recent than the Liang Bua hobbit remains. “What we don’t yet know is whether there was at least a short overlap in the populations, thus raising the question once again of the possible role of modern humans in the extinction of floresiensis”, paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer with the Natural History Museum in London told Nature, adding that if humans and hobbits had overlapped, interbreeding is also a possibility. Meanwhile, the research team intends to return to Liang Bua in order to explore cave deposits from 46,000 to 50,000 years old. The discovery of the teeth was revealed at the European Society for the study of Human Evolution in Madrid’s annual meeting. ]]>

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41,000 Year Old Fires Shed Light on Hobbits' Fate

Liang Bua Cave

Homo floresiensis, the extinct ‘hobbit’ species of human. Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the new study presents evidence that modern humans (Homo sapiens) were likely using fire at Liang Bua 41,000 years ago. It’s a conclusion that narrows the gap between the disappearance of Homo floresiensis and the arrival of the first modern humans on the Island of Flores, and could provide new insight into the fate of H.floresiensis. Called the discovery of the century, the first H.floresiensis remains were unearthed in the Liang Bua cave on Flores in 2003. Surrounded by stone tools and animal remains, the female H.floresiensis would have been 3.5 foot (1.06 metres) tall and thirty years old at the time of her death. Subsequent discoveries of eight similarly diminuitive individuals led scientists to conclude in a study published in 2009 that the initial discovery had not been an anomally. The latest discovery on the Island of Flores provides some of the earliest evidence yet found of the presence of modern humans in South East Asia. Lead author of the study Dr Mike Morley, a research fellow and geoarchaeologist at UOW’s Centre for Archaeological Science (CAS), said the discovery could be “extremely important” in the mission to determine how and why the hobbit species disappeared, roughly 50,000 years ago. In March, a study published in the journal Nature revised the initial dating estimates for the original hobbit skeleton, concluding the bones were between 190,000 and 60,000 years old, much older than previous studies that claimed the creature survived on Flores until as recently as 12,000 years ago. With the most recent stone tools on the island dated to 50,000 years old, scientists were suddenly presented with a glaring gap in the chronology of the site’s sediment sequence: What happened there, and who lived there between 46,000 and 20,000 years ago? Dr Morley and colleagues, including CAS geoarchaeologist Professor Paul Goldberg and archaeologist Thomas Sutikna, have now been able to fill in some of that gap. On top of detailing environmental changes at the site between 190,000 and 20,000 years ago, they found evidence of fire places that were in use between 41,000 and 24,000 years ago. With no evidence that H.floresiensis used fire in their 130,000 year occupation of the site ever discovered, Morley’s team believe these fire places were most likely the work of modern humans. “We now know that the hobbits only survived until around 50,000 years ago at Liang Bua. We also know that modern humans arrived in Southeast Asia and Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and most likely quite a bit earlier” Dr Morley said in a press release from UOW. “This new evidence, which is some of the earliest evidence of modern human activity in Southeast Asia, narrows the gap between the two hominin species at the site.” A technique known as micromorphology was part of the team’s study, allowing sediments from the site to be examined in microscopic detail. Sediment blocks from the rear of the cave, an area separate from where the fossils were discovered, were extracted and shipped to UOW. Wafer thin slices (just 30 microns thick) were studied under microscopes, subjected to spectroscopic analyses and radiocarbon dated to determine the age of each layer. The team’s findings add further support to the idea that modern humans dispersed through South East Asia and Australia around 50,000 years ago. The researchers at Liang Bua are now looking for more evidence to narrow the time gap between modern humans and H.floresiensis; allowing them to decipher exactly when humans first inhabited the island, and perhaps even revealing a cross over between the two species. Image courtesy of University of Wollongong]]>

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'Hobbit' Ancestor Found in Indonesia

Dr. Adam Brumm

Homo floresiensis, a mysterious, pygmy like human species, were first found on the island of Flores, Indonesia, in 2003. The unusual creatures have been nicknamed hobbits, in reference to their similarities to the characters from J.R.R Tolkien’s popular fantasy books. The first specimen, discovered in the Liang Bua cave on Flores, was surrounded by stone tools and animal remains. Thirty years old at the time of death, the female H.floresiensis would have been about 3.5 foot (1.06 metres) tall. Subsequent discoveries of jaw and skeletal remains from eight similarly diminuitive individuals led scientists to conclude in a 2009 study that the initial discovery had not been an anomaly. Exactly when H.floresiensis actually lived is far from clear, but a 2005 paper in Nature suggested they could have been around as far back as 95,000 years ago until as recently as 12,000 years ago. Now, remains of hominins that were roughly the same size as H.floresiensis but ten times older, have been excavated from Mata Menge, a site in open grasslands 70 km east of Liang Bua, Indonesia. Several isolated hominin teeth, as well as a fragment of lower jaw, were found in a layer of sandstone which had been deposited around 700,000 years ago next to a lakeside stream. The findings are reported in the journal Nature. “We have unearthed fossils from at least three individuals, including two children, along with stone tools that are almost identical to those made by the much younger Homo floresiensis,” said Dr. Adam Brumm from Griffiths University, who was involved in the excavations. Along with colleagues from the Geology Museum and Geological Survey Institute in Bandung, Indonesia, Dr. Brumm has been carrying out excavation work at Mata Menge since 2004. “There is a striking similarity in size and form between the Mata Menge hominins and the Liang Bua hobbit, which is surprising given the former are at least several hundred millennia older.” Dr. Brumm explained in a press release from Griffiths University. “This suggests the Mata Menge individuals belonged to a population of ancient hobbit-like hominins that gave rise to Homo floresiensis. They may even have been a very early form of hobbits, which would mean this species existed for far longer than anyone had anticipated.” Since the initial discovery in 2003, scientists have struggled to explain where H.floresiensis fit into the human family tree. Although broadly agreed that the ‘hobbits’ evolved from an archaic branch of hominins that existed prior to the emergence of our own species in Africa some 200,000 years ago, exactly which hominin group spawned them has divided opinion. One hypothesis is that H.floresiensis descended from Asian Homo erectus, also known as Java man, an early hominin that reached the island of Java 1.5 million years ago. The hypothesis suggests that a group of these ‘Java men’, which were similar in size to a modern human, somehow became stranded on Flores and gradually reduced in body size. The other hypothesis is that H.floresiensis came from an even more ancient ancestor, such as Homo habilis, or perhaps even an ape like hominin forerunner. The Mata Menge discoveries seem to add considerable support to the first theory. “While only a handful of fossils has been found at Mata Menge so far, characteristic features of the teeth strongly imply an ancestral relationship with Homo erectus,” Dr. Brumm said. “This lends weight to the theory that the hobbit was a dwarfed version of the famous Java Man, which somehow got marooned on the island. The fact that they were found with fossils of extinct pygmy elephants (Stegodon) and giant rats also supports the idea of an isolated group of Homo erectus undergoing a dramatic evolutionary change owing to the Island Rule.” These conclusions are far from conclusive of course. Brumm and colleagues are hopeful however, that more skeletal remains will be excavated from Mata Menge, which could provide further insights into H.floresiensis‘ history. “Mata Menge is a goldmine,” said Dr Brumm. “I expect that further excavations at this site will eventually yield a hominin skull, which will finally allow us to put a face and a name to the hobbit’s ancestor. Then we will know how this experiment in human evolution got started”.]]>

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Scientific Research Divulges More Information About “Hobbit” People

Homo Floesiensis Skull (3)

H.habilis (its earliest species). The study’s coauthors, Antoine Balzeau with the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, and Philippe Charlier from UVSQ/Paris-Descartes University, performed the medical study of LB1 which is considered the holotype discovery of H.floresiensis, by performing a micro-CT examination of the thickness of the cranial vault and the skull’s cranial structure. They discovered the skull did not, in fact, bear the traits which are common in modern humans, instead it carried traits much more characteristic of ancient hominins like Homo erectus, an extinct human species considered the first species of human to have moved out of Africa. Popularly referred to as “hobbit” because of its characteristic feet and diminutive build, H.floresiensis was thought by many experts to be an extinct species of human. Their skeletal remains were discovered on Flores Island in Indonesia by a joint Indonesian – Australian team of archaeologists who were searching for evidence related to the origins of human migration to Australia from Asia. The remains were indicative of an individual which would have stood around 3.5 feet (1.1 m) high and had a small brain, similar to ancient hominins. The find included one complete skull (the above mentioned LB1) and the incomplete skeletons of nine individuals. This hominin is considered remarkable for not only its small brain and body but also for its relatively recent survival – possibly just 12,000 years ago. Alongside the skeletons researchers found stone tools ranging from between 94,000 and 13,000 years old. Several scientists have suggested, after examining the “hobbit”, that the remains represented a modern human group suffering from disease and microcephaly which resulted in the physical characteristics that are featured in the fossils. However, other studies haven’t supported the hypothesis, and this latest study puts forth additional findings that support the suggestion the fossils do not exhibit pathological features comparable to extinct human species. Some scholars have suggested the ancient H.floresiensis could be connected to the Ebu Gogo myths which were prevalent on Flores Island. The Ebu Gogo, according to island folklore, were human-like creatures that resided in Flores, Indonesia. In the language of the central Flores Nage people, Ebu translates to “grandmother” while gogo means “he who eats anything.” An equivalent colloquial English could be similar to “Granny Glutton.” The Nage describe the Ebu Gogo as fast runners and able walkers who were about 1.5 m tall. Reportedly, they had flat and wide noses, large mouths, broad faces and hairy bodies. The females were described as having “long, pendulous breasts.” They were also said to have murmured in their own language, and were able to repeat what was said to them in a parrot-like manner. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user: Ryan Somma]]>

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"Hobbit" Human Species Debunked

male Skull