Ira Block/National Geographic
Some scientists say this skull, smaller than those of modern humans, is from a newfound species.
Posted on 05/19/2006 3:09:39 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Ira Block/National Geographic
Some scientists say this skull, smaller than those of modern humans, is from a newfound species.
Not all scientists agree that the 18,000-year-old "little people" fossils found on the Indonesian island of Flores should be designated an extinct human-related species. Some expressed their opposition in news interviews and informal symposiums, but papers arguing their case were rejected by major journals.
snip...
In today's issue of the journal Science, researchers led by Robert D. Martin of the Field Museum in Chicago present evidence they say supports their main argument, that the skull in question is not that of a newfound extinct species, but of a modern Homo sapiens afflicted with microcephaly, a genetic disorder characterized by a smaller than normal brain and head size.
The researchers said the evidence used in previous studies to rule out microcephaly was flawed. They noted that the analysis was primarily based on comparisons with a brain cast made from a poorly preserved skull of a 10-year-old who was microcephalic, not one from an adult.
"Quite simply, it could not have been a worse example for such a study," Dr. Martin, a primatologist, said in a telephone interview, speaking of the fossil skull that was examined. "It tells us nothing snip...
Dean Falk, an anthropologist at Florida State University, published a study in Science last year that was said to show that the Flores specimen's brain, though about one-third the size of a contemporary human's, was probably organized in a way consistent with fairly advanced behavior.
It could have been a separate species, Dr. Falk concluded, one that was capable of making the stone tools and other technologies associated with the discovery site.
"We stand by our original interpretation," she said yesterday by telephone.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
What I meant was not microcephalic...ping.
Darby McGill and The Little People.
There are little people all over the world ........... especially in our Congress.
To be serious....... I read that there were "little people" all over the world. They were usually forced to the outer limits and islands of populated areas by the bigger people.
prisoner6
One of the benefits of knowing the Creator Jesus, and accepting His atonement, is you will have perfect understanding of all of this when you receive your redeemed body in his image and likeness, filled with knowledge of the unlocked mysteries of the universe.
A lot of us believe in a creator, just not your view.
God created evolution. Men created your book.
So God created everything except our brains, which He did not intend for us to use?
One of the two or so islands with the Komodo Dragons as I recall. Lizards way bigger than humans.
Actually God created our brains and then made it illegal to use them.
"Quite simply, it could not have been a worse example for such a study,"
That had to hurt.
I'm leaning that way too...Homo-Erectus stock though.
Actually when I still believed in God I rather hoped the mysteries of the universe wouldn't be unlocked after death because that would be a bit boring.
Were the stone tools scaled down to fit smaller hands? Enquiring minds want to know.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him.
It is amazing how much time some humans waste saying totally idiotic things which indicate that they haven't a clue that biology research isn't an attempt "to try and disprove the existence of the Creator", and that evolution is not incompatible with belief in God: The *majority* of Americans who accept the validity of evolution are Christians.
So give it a rest, why don't you?
Nice question. A lack of scaling down would argue for a not-too-bright sub-group rather than a species.
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