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Scientists from the University of Oregon, North Carolina State University and the Australian National University have refuted the conclusion of Lee R. Berger and colleagues that Hobbit-like little people once lived there... They argue that Berger, an expert on much earlier humans dating to the Pleistocene, failed to review existing documentation, much of it published by Nelson or Fitzpatrick. Much of their rebuttal comes from remains unearthed by Fitzpatrick and Nelson at Chelechol ra Orrak, only miles from Berger's two sites. Among these whole remains are bone pieces that match -- some are even smaller that fragments found by Berger...

When fossils of a diminutive, recently extinct race of humans were discovered in a cave on Flores, one of the most easterly islands of the Indonesian archipelago, researchers can be forgiven for assuming they were down-sized by the peculiar selection pressures that act upon insular species. On Flores, natural selection has morphed several familiar species to unfamiliar sizes. There be dragons: three metre, 200kg monitor lizards, also known as the Komodo dragon, plus the fossilised remains of an extinct giant rodent, Spelaeomys, and extinct Stegodon pigmy elephants. The tiny skulls of the Flores fossils ignited a heated, sometimes ad hominin,...

An archaeologist, who discovered the "Hobbit", an ancient human like species, on an Indonesian island in 2003, has determined that a relative of the species may have existed in northern Australia. The Hobbits, or Homo floresiensis, who were only about one metre tall and weighed just 30kg, existed on the remote Indonesian island of Flores until about 12,000 years ago. The specie was dubbed as "hobbits" because of its small size and big feet. Now, according to Professor Mike Morwood, who had made the finding in 2003, these ancient species could have had relatives living in northern Australia. "We are...

Archaeology: Bones, isles and videotapeOld human remains found on the Pacific islands of Palau are caught in the crossfire between entertainment and science. Rex Dalton reports. The Palauan caves lie in the 'rock islands' of the archipelago.R. DALTONCircled by a protective coral reef, the 300-island archipelago of Palau is one of the Pacific Ocean's most biodiverse ecosystems. The first intrepid voyagers who arrived here, more than 3,000 years ago, would have found lush plants and waters teeming with fish and crustaceans. By 2,500 years ago the Palauans were even practising sophisticated agriculture, creating terraces on the archipelago's largest island on...

Ancient Bones of Small Humans Discovered in Palau John Roach for National Geographic MagazineMarch 10, 2008 Thousands of human bones belonging to numerous individuals have been discovered in the Pacific island nation of Palau. Some of the bones are ancient and indicate inhabitants of particularly small size, scientists announced today. The remains are between 900 and 2,900 years old and align with Homo sapiens, according to a paper on the discovery. However, the older bones are tiny and exhibit several traits considered primitive, or archaic, for the human lineage. "They weren't very typical, very small in fact," said Lee Berger,...

A rare disease characterized by small brain and body size but near normal intelligence is caused by mutations in a gene coding for the protein pericentrin, researchers have found. The scientists speculate that the condition may explain the tiny, hobbitlike people that occupied a remote, Indonesian island about 18,000 years ago—adding fuel to the debate over whether the unusual creatures were a new species or just diseased modern humans. Pericentrin helps separate chromosomes during cell division, which is needed for growth. "The whole body loses its capacity to grow, because cell division is so difficult for people with this defect,"...

Hobbits mastered use of stone tools Leigh Dayton, Science writer October 09, 2007 HOBBITS may have had long arms and tiny brains but our new-found cousins were agile and smart enough to make stone tools used to fashion other tools, probably for hunting and butchering animals. What's more, they did so at least 40,000 years before modern humans arrived on their home island of Flores in Indonesia. The discovery comes from Queensland scientists who have studied wear patterns and residue on about 100 stone tools found with the remains of hobbits (Homo floresiensis) in Liang Bua cave by Australian and...

Monday, 15 January 2007 Hobbit like humans show Indonesia was "middle earth" Anna Henderson In a world first, a book detailing the discovery of a lost species of hobbit-like people who lived on a remote tropical Indonesian island less than 20,000 years ago was launched in Armidale in northern NSW on Saturday. According to research completed by University of New England Professor, Mike Moorwood, the artefacts his group unearthed during a 2003 archaeological dig on Flores Island suggest a kind of "middle earth" existed there, with metre-high humans hunting miniature elephants, giant rodents and Komodo dragons. Professor Moorwood wrote "The...

J.R.R. Tolkien, in his masterpiece The Lord of The Rings, gave the following description of Hobbits as a people: Nonetheless, ease and peace had left this people still curiously tough. They were, if it came to it, difficult to daunt or to kill; and they were, perhaps, so unwearingly fond of good things not least because they could, when put to it, do without them, and could survive rough handling by grief, foe, or weather in a way that astonished those who did not know them well and looked no further than their bellies and their well-fed faces. Though slow...

Art From the Island of Hobbits Indonesian statue reshapes Australian gallery Reuters Nov 21, 2006 (National Gallery of Australia)CANBERRA—An Indonesian weaver and her suckling baby are reshaping Australia's national art gallery. The Bronze Weaver, a tiny 1,400 year-old Indonesian statue, has gone on exhibition at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra in an attempt to lure art-wary Australians away from traditional European masterworks and educate them in Asian forms. "With its intriguing sixth-century dating, The Bronze Weaver may be the most striking, rare and important object of Indonesian ancestral art in existence," Robyn Maxwell, the gallery's senior curator of Asian...

When scientists found 18,000-year-old bones of a small, humanlike creature on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, they concluded that the bones represented a new species in the human family tree that they named Homo floresiensis. Their interpretation was widely accepted by the scientific community and heralded by the popular press around the world. Because of its very short stature, H. floresiensis was soon dubbed the "Hobbit." But now, a new research has comprehensively and convincingly rubbished the case that the small skull represent a new species of hominid, as was claimed in a study published which was published...

Santorum defends Iraq war By ALISON HAWKES Bucks County Courier Times Embattled U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said America has avoided a second terrorist attack for five years because the “Eye of Mordor” has been drawn to Iraq instead. Santorum used the analogy from one of his favorite books, J.R.R. Tolkien's 1950s fantasy classic “Lord of the Rings,” to put an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq into terms any school kid could easily understand. “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum said, describing the tool the evil Lord Sauron used...

Travel the Grand Trunk Road between Lahore and Islamabad, and you come to the city of Gujrat. Awash in the smog and sewage produced by its million-odd inhabitants, it is an unlovely place best known for the manufacture of electrical fans. It is also the location of a shrine to a 17th-century Sufi Saint by the name of Shua Dulah. For at least 100 years, but perhaps for centuries, it has been, though is no longer, a depository for children with microcephaly. The word "microcephaly" comes from the Greek, "small head". But in Pakistan, such children are known as chuas...

Ancient islanders get a leg up Bruce Bower From San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Paleoanthropology Society and Society for American Archaeology meeting Fossils of a humanlike species dubbed Homo floresiensis that lived on the Pacific island of Flores between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago recently grabbed headlines because scientists deduced that this creature stood no more than 1 meter tall and possessed a surprisingly small brain. Nonetheless, H. floresiensis packed considerable weight on its diminutive frame and possessed far stronger legs than people do today, says William L. Jungers of the State University of New York at Stony Brook....

Rarely have the title and tone of a missive clashed so directly as in this DUmmie THREAD "victoriously" titled, "We are winning! Keep up the good fight! BUSHCO is going down..." To read the title, one would think the DUmmies are on the verge of finally defeating the EVIL Bush Regime. However, when one actually READS the thread itself, it is chock full of ANGRY defeatism. Yeah, DUmmies, you can all relax. You ARE winning...NOT! Even you DUmmies are not at all convinced by the "upbeat" title of the thread. Once again the "victorious" DUmmie rantings are in a...

Hobbits may be earliest Australians Carmelo Amalfi and Leigh Dayton December 08, 2005 THE tiny hobbit-like humans of Indonesia may have lived in Australia before they became extinct about 11,000 years ago. The startling claim comes from archaeologist Mike Morwood, leader of the team that in 2003 uncovered remains of the 1m-tall hominid at Liang Bua cave on Indonesia's Flores island. They believe the pint-size person - known officially as Homo floresiensis and unofficially as the "Hobbit" - was wiped out by a volcanic eruption that spared their Homo sapiens neighbours. Speaking at a public lecture in Perth, Professor Morwood...

Bones of ContentionIs a small, 18,000-year-old skeleton the older cousin of modern-day Pygmies—or a new human species? BY SIMON ELEGANT | RAMPASASA JOHN STANMEYER FOR TIMESMALL WORLD: Rampasasa resident Anggalus Jalur, 55, stands just 130 cm tall "In those days we ate our meat raw, like animals." The speaker is Viktor Jurubu, an Indonesian farmer in his 60s, who, in his T shirt and sarong, looks little like the cavemen he's describing. Except for his height, which is about 140 cm. In the world of anthropology, Jurubu's small size is big news because he and his 246 fellow villagers of...

The discovery of a new species of human astounded the world. But is it what it seems? John Vidal went to remotest Flores to find out If you want to understand human evolution, it may be worth starting with Johannes Daak from the remote village of Akel in the heavily forested centre of the Indonesian island of Flores. Johannes, from the Manggarai ethnic group, reckons he is 100 years old and says he owes his longevity and enduring strength to having only ever known one woman. He says he owes his stature to his ancestors. Johannes is no more than...

Pied Piper Pitt, aka William RIVERS Pitt, after having his promise of something WONDERFUL happening on Monday (after the snow dog ate his homework last week) go up in smoke, is now trying to change the subject and cheer on the DUmmies with a dopey pep talk as we can see in this Dummie THREAD titled, “This is a great time to be alive.” This posting follows on the heels of a dopey story that Pied Piper Pitt posted yesterday about some guy who is a milkman who tries to be a dogcatcher (or was it the other way...

In an astonishing discovery that could rewrite the history of human evolution, scientists say they have found the skeleton of a new human species, a dwarf, marooned for eons in a tropical Lost World while modern man rapidly colonized the rest of the planet. Chris Stringer, director of human origins studies at the Natural History Museum in London, holds a cast taken from a skull that is said to be that of a new species in the evolution of humans named Flores Man. Richard Lewis, Associated Press Chris Stringer, director of human origins studies at the Natural History Museum in...

Scientists in Australia have found a new species of hobbit-sized humans who lived about 18,000 years ago on an Indonesian island in a discovery that adds another piece to the complex puzzle of human evolution. The partial skeleton of Homo floresiensis, found in a cave on the island of Flores, is of an adult female that was a metre (3 feet) tall, had a chimpanzee-sized brain and was substantially different from modern humans. It shared the isolated island to the east of Java with miniature elephants and Komodo dragons. The creature walked upright, probably evolved into its dwarf size because...

SEAN Penn and Billy Crystal made minor news with political comments at Sunday night's Oscars. But the real headline went unnoticed: Hollywood now agrees with President Bush that "outsourcing" American investment and jobs can be a good thing. This year's big winner, "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," shows - better than any economist could - how Americans gain when our companies invest and create jobs all over the world. Financing for "King" came from New Line Cinema, a unit of New York-based Time Warner Inc. By the standards of some political and economic analysis these days, New...

I just saw on Japanese TV a possible freeper with the sign "EVEN HOBBITS SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!" I almost broke my kotatsu!

An epic end to this ode to heroism and sacrifice. Superb special effects, thrilling battle scenes -- especially of the Nazgul wheeling and diving on Minas Tirith like JU-87 Stukas -- chilling moments as Shelob hunts Frodo, and a message of courage and hope: that even the smallest of us can make a difference in the history of world. My main quibble was Jackson’s removal of the “Scouring of the Shire” (and indeed any scene of Saruman). It’s always been one of my favorite parts of the book, the Shire has been reduced under Saruman’s brand of Socialism to a...

The Encyclopedia of ArdaAn excellent online Middle Earth reference guide.

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Butterbeer & HobbitsMeriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took: Tolkien's oft Overlooked Heroes by Jacqueline O. Moleski  Frodo Baggins and his servant Samwise Gamgee have been the focus of many articles, essays and even books. However, as awesome as those two Hobbits are; there are two other Hobbits in the tale of The Lord of the Rings who have often been overlooked by fans and critics alike. Peter Jackson, however, has realized and visualized these two important characters perfectly. The focus of this essay is the characters of Merry and Pippin and how these two young Hobbits emerge as heroes in their...

Charting the Shire linesWhat was so special about the year 1601 that it should be when Hobbits needed to settle in a new home? And where, exactly, did they settle?People often ask a lot of questions about the early years of the Shire which are really hard to answer. For example, did Marcho and Blanco, the Fallohide brothers who led the first wave of migration into the Shire, have a surname? When did surnames become important to the Hobbits? How much do the surnames recorded in The Lord of the Rings reflect the social structure of early Shire clans?If there...

"The Empty Lands Where No Men Are..."The People of Eriador, 2000 - 3017 Third AgeThis article discusses the desolate picture of settlement in Eriador at the time of the War of the Ring. In the early Third Age Eriador had been chiefly inhabited by the Elves of Lindon, the Dwarves of Khadzad-dum and the People of Arnor. Arnor was stricken by internal strife 861+, war with Angmar 1300+, and the Great Plague of 1636, in which "...many parts of Eriador become desolate." (LOTR Tale of Years 1636). In 1974 Arnor was conquered by Angmar and its remaining city (Fornost Erain)...

The grandson of J R R Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings books, has spoken for the first time of the family feud that has seen him excluded from managing the writer's literary estate. In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph today, Simon Tolkien speaks about the five-year dispute and how his father, Christopher, has turned his back on him and his children. He also discloses how a minor disagreement over the Hollywood adaptations of the books contributed to his exclusion from the board of the family firm. He said: "My father is very angry with me...

Hobbit Tales, or Never There And Back Again...The reason J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings was that his readers wanted to read more about hobbits. When first told this by his publishers, Tolkien replied, "I cannot think of anything more to say about hobbits. Mr. Baggins seems to have exhibited so fully both the Took and the Baggins side of their nature" (Tolkien, "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien", p. 24).In the end he produced a great epic not only about Hobbits but also about Elves, Dwarves, Ents, and Men. But Tolkien didn't stop there. He wrote so much...

A discussion of Bree's significance and probable history in the Third Age. [ Published prior to the first Lord Of The Rings movie ] Strange as news from Bree...Word has it that we won't see much of Bree in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies. Bree is the little village east of the Shire where Frodo and his companions meet up with Aragorn (who is known there as Strider). I expect most of the Bree scenes will deal with how the Hobbits come to travel with the Ranger, and the movie will just move on. Will we even see...

Want to forget about terrorism and all those distracting rumors of war? Need to ignore the economy for a while? Got the holiday blues? Our culture has a sure fire cure -- the traditional spate of post-Thanksgiving movies. This year, despite a clamor over the latest Harry Potter film, much of the attention is going to another fantasy called The Two Towers -- part two in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Will it succeed in distracting us for a while, conveying audiences to a world that is at once more beautiful and stirring than humdrum modern life? Naturally, I...

LOS ANGELES - "Catch Me If You Can" couldn't catch up with "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." The "Lord of the Rings" sequel took in $48.9 million during its second weekend for a 12-day gross of $200.1 million, becoming one of the speediest films ever to cross the $200 million mark, according to studio estimates Sunday. Its weekend average of $13,508 per theater had "Two Towers" fulfilling predictions that it would outperform its predecessor, last year's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." "This film is the story of the holiday season," said Paul...

All About Sam Most people think Frodo is the true hero of The Lord of the Rings. To put it another way: It is accepted by nearly all readers that the novel is about Frodo. It’s his quest, his burden, he’s the focus. The little blurbs in magazines that are designed for the non-initiate read like this: "The story of a hobbit, Frodo Baggins, who is sent to destroy an evil Ring of power…" Sound like a good pitch? Not quite. The main character is really Samwise Gamgee, though you may not know it. I’m telling you now, it’s all...

~A Bit of Light~Visions and Transformations of the Ring Quest Author: Cara J. Loup Then as he had kept watch Sam had noticed that at times a light seemed to be shining faintly within; but now the light was even clearer and stronger. Frodo's face was peaceful, the marks of fear and care had left it; but it looked old, old and beautiful, as if the chiselling of the shaping years was now revealed in many fine lines that had before been hidden, though the identity of the face was not changed. Not that Sam Gamgee put it that way...

In response to the Unity in the Spirit of America service program, in support of which Sean Astin will be appearing in Washington DC on the morning of September 11, 2002, BitofEarth.net would like to announce Project Elanor. With the tear-stained excavations of Ground Zero now turning toward talk of memorial parks and rebuilding, and with the Pentagon scarred but standing, it is time for rebuilding, for planting, for new life and togetherness. As a fan community ostensibly organized in honour of a gardener, a father, a comrade, a companion, a servant, and a community, leader we see this call...

Youth of America Answer The President's Call For a "September of Service" Emcee at "United Day of Service" Closing Ceremony in Washington, D.C. Will Be Actor Sean Astin of "Lord of the Rings" and "Rudy" WASHINGTON D.C. - September 5, 2002 -- Youth nationwide are declaring September 11th as the "United Day of Service" in response to President Bush's call for all young Americans to volunteer. The President is encouraging more Americans to respond to the terrorist attacks with acts of good, and suggesting that they engage in volunteer service as a way of honoring the victims of the terrorist...

Just so you won't have to see the postage-stamp-sized version any more....