light that may change the way we view our world
forever, a 3 foot tall human found in Indonesia.
We have to take a realistic view of this new
discovery. Indonesian culture must figure
heavily in the reassessment of our "World
History", 18,000 years ago a 3 foot tall almond
eyed ancestor lived alongside the human race.
FRJ
Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
October 27, 2004
Scientists have found fossil skeletons of a hobbit-like species of human that grew no larger than a three-year-
old modern child (See pictures). The tiny humans, who had skulls about the size of grapefruits, lived with
pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons on a remote island in Indonesia as recently as 13,000 years ago.
Australian and Indonesian researchers discovered bones of the miniature humans in a cave on Flores, an
island midway between Asia and Australia.
Scientists have determined that the first skeleton they found belongs to a species of human completely new
to science. Named Homo floresiensis, after the island on which it was found, the tiny human has also been
dubbed by dig workers as the "hobbit," after the tiny creatures from the Lord of the Rings books.
The original skeleton, a female, stood at just 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall, weighed about 25 kilograms (55 pounds),
and was around 30 years old at the time of her death 18,000 years ago.
A male Homo floresiensis returns from the hunt. Found on the island of Flores in Indonesia, these ancient
humans grew no taller than a three-year-old modern-human child. Their small size led scientists to nickname
the species "hobbits," after the tiny Lord of the Rings characters. The first such individual found was female.
Since then at least seven individuals have been found, including males.
The archaeological find will be featured in a National Geographic Channel program to air in early 2005.
Illustration by Peter Schouten
Scientist Peter Brown photographs the skull of Homo floresiensis, a species of human that is new to science.
This encounter between a modern human and Homo floresiensis (the 18,000-year-old skull) may have had
ancient precedents. Some researchers believe that, because the Hobbit-like humans lived at the same time
and in the same general region as modern humans for at least 20,000 years, the two species may well have
met face-to-face. Local legends in Indonesia mention an ancient race of tiny humans living east of Flores
This grapefruit-size Homo floresiensis skull is apparently from a 30-year-old female who lived 18,000 years
ago on Flores, an island in Indonesia. The small brain suggests that the new human species is not a pygmy
Homo sapiens but rather a descendant of Homo erectus
The skeleton was found in the same sediment deposits on Flores that have also been found to contain stone
tools and the bones of dwarf elephants, giant rodents, and Komodo dragons.
Homo floresienses has been described as one of the most spectacular discoveries in paleoanthropology in
half a century—and the most extreme human ever discovered.
The species inhabited Flores as recently as 13,000 years ago, which means it would have lived at the same
time as modern humans, scientists say.
"To find that as recently as perhaps 13,000 years ago, there was another upright, bipedal—although small-
brained—creature walking the planet at the same time as modern humans is as exciting as it was
unexpected," said Peter Brown, a paleoanthropologist at the University of New England in New South Wales,
Australia.
Brown is a co-author of the study describing the findings, which appears in the October 28 issue of the
science journal Nature. The National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration has
sponsored the find. The find will be covered in greater detail in a documentary airing early next year on the
National Geographic Channel.
"It is totally unexpected," said Chris Stringer, director of the Human Origins program at the Natural History
Museum in London. "To have early humans on the remote island of Flores is surprising enough. That some
are only about a meter tall with a chimp-size brain is even more remarkable. That they were still there less
than 20,000 years ago, and [that] modern humans must have met them, is astonishing."
The researchers estimate that the tiny people lived on Flores from about 95,000 years ago until at least
13,000 years ago. The scientists base their theory on charred bones and stone tools found on the island. The
blades, perforators, points, and other cutting and chopping utensils were apparently used to hunt big game.
In an accompanying Nature commentary, Marta Mirazón Lahr and Robert Foley, both with the Leverhulme
Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge, England, describe Homo floresiensis
as changing our understanding of late human evolutionary geography, biology, and culture.
The discovery shows that the genus Homo is more varied and more flexible in its ability to adapt than
previously thought. (The genus Homo also includes modern humans, Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and
Neandertals—all of which are marked by relatively large braincases, erect posture, opposable thumbs, and
the ability to make tools.)
"Homo floresiensis is an addition to the short list of other human species that lived at the same time as
modern humans. I think people will be surprised to learn that not so long ago, we were not alone," said Brown.
Lost World of Tiny People
Despite its smaller body size, smaller brain, and mixture of primitive and advanced anatomical features, the
new species falls firmly within the genus Homo. The researchers speculate that the hobbit and her peers
evolved from a normal-size, island-hopping Homo erectus population that reached Flores around 840,000
years ago.
"Physically, they were about the size of a three-year old Homo sapiens [modern human] child, but with a
braincase only one-third as large," said Richard Roberts, a geochronologist at the University of Wollongong,
Australia, and one on the co-authors of the research paper. "They had slightly longer arms than us. More
conspicuously, they had hard, thicker eyebrow ridges than us, a sharply sloping forehead, and no chin."
"While they don't look like modern humans, some of their behaviors were surprisingly human," said Brown,
the study co-author.
The Flores people used fire in hearths for cooking and hunted stegodon, a primitive dwarf elephant found on
the island. Although small, the stegodon still weighed about 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds), and would pose
a significant challenge to a hunter the size of a three-year-old modern human child. Hunting must have
required joint communication and planning, the researchers say.
Almost all of the stegodon fossils associated with the human artifacts are of juveniles, suggesting the tiny
humans selectively hunted the smallest stegodons. The Flores humans' diets also included fish, frogs,
snakes, tortoises, birds, and rodents.
"The hobbit was nobody's fool," Roberts said. "They survived alongside us [Homo sapiens] for at least
30,000 years, and we're not known for being very amiable eco-companions. And the hobbits were managing
some extraordinary things—manufacturing sophisticated stone tools, hunting pygmy elephants, and crossing
at least two water barriers to reach Flores from mainland Asia—with a brain only one-third the size of ours.
"Given that Homo floresiensis is the smallest human species ever discovered, they out-punch every known
human intellectually, pound for pound."
Both the tiny humans and the dwarfed elephants appear to have become extinct at about the same time as
the result of a major volcanic eruption.
{Perhaps they moved up and on... out of danger. "FRJ"}
Mingling of the Human Tribes
There is no evidence of modern humans reaching Flores before 11,000 years ago, so it is unknown whether
the hobbit intermingled with modern humans. The researchers found hobbit and pygmy stegodon remains
only below a 12,000-year-old volcanic ash layer. Modern human remains were found only above the layer.
Still, rumors, myths, and legends of tiny creatures have swirled around the isolated island for centuries. It's
certainly possible that they interacted with modern humans, according to the researchers.
"Looked at from a regional perspective, we definitely have modern humans in Australia from at least 40,000
years ago, and in Borneo from at least 43,000 years ago," Roberts said. "So there was temporal overlap
between the hobbits and ourselves from at least 40,000 years ago until at least 18,000 years ago—more
than 20,000 years minimum. What was the nature of their interaction? We have absolutely no idea. We need
more sites and more hard evidence, and that's the next phase of our investigation."
Island Dwarfing
Researchers are also anxious to investigate how and why the hobbits came to be so small. When scientists
discovered the hobbit fossil, they thought it was the skeleton of a child. There was no record of human adults
that were that small. Modern pygmies are considerably taller at about 1.4 to 1.5 meters (4.6 to nearly 5 feet)
tall.
"H. floresiensis presents an intriguing problem in evolutionary biology," Brown said.
The most likely explanation is that, over thousands of years, the species became smaller because
environmental conditions favored smaller body size. Dwarfing of mammals on islands is a well-known
process and seen worldwide. Islands frequently provide a limited food supply, few predators, and few
species competing for the same environmental niche. Survival would depend on minimizing daily energy
requirements.
But there is no absolute proof that this is what in fact happened with this small human.
"While there are stone tools dated as far back as 840,000 years ago, no fossils of large-bodied ancestors
have ever been found" on Flores, Brown said. "There is some possibility [Homo floresiensis] arrived on the
island small-bodied."
"I could not have predicted such a discovery in a million years," said Stringer, of London's Natural History
Museum. "This find shows us how much we still have to learn about human evolution, particularly in Southeast
Asia."
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