Posted on 03/18/2010 6:05:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Ancestors of a hobbit-like species of humans may have colonized the Indonesian island of Flores as far back as a million years ago, much earlier than thought, according to a new study published Thursday. These early ancestors, or hominins, were previously thought to have arrived on the island about 800,000 years ago but artifacts found in a new archaeological site suggest they might have been around even earlier... The arrival of hominins is also believed to have resulted quickly in the mass death of giant tortoises and the Stegondon sondaari, a pygmy elephant, on the island. In their paper, the researchers said they found 45 stone tools in Wolo Sege in the Soa basin in Flores. Led by Adam Brumm at the Center of Archaeological Science in the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, the researchers used new dating methods and found that the stone tools were about a million years old. "It is now clear, however, in light of the evidence from Wolo Sege, that hominins were present on Flores (a million years ago). This suggests that the non-selective, mass death of Stegondon sondaari and giant tortoise ... could represent a localized or regional extinction," they wrote in their paper. "Flores man" is thought to be a descendant of homo erectus, who had a large brain, was full-sized and spread out from Africa to Asia about two million years ago. Scientists suspect "Flores man" lived at the same time as modern humans and became extinct after a massive volcanic eruption on the island around 12,000 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
“Have you ever seen a midget in a hurry? They don’t slowly get smaller, they just disappear right away!” — Dave Attell
He’s an Oompaloompa!
I had no idea he is that tiny.
When are these (4) movies coming out? I’ve been desperate for something good to see (although I did like avatar)
In many cultures, seeing little people is a good thing.
Hi ho, hi ho. :’)
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