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Hobbit remains found in Australia
Reuters ^ | Wed, Oct 27, 2004 | Patricia Reaney

Posted on 10/27/2004 10:51:55 AM PDT by presidio9

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 of environmental conditions and coexisted with modern humans in the region for thousands of years.

"It is an extraordinarily important find," Professor Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, told a news conference on Wednesday. "It challenges the whole idea of what it is that makes us human."

Peter Brown of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, and his colleagues made the discovery of the skull and other bones, and miniature tools in September 2003 while looking for records of modern human migration to Asia. They reported the finding in the science journal Nature.

"Finding these hominins on an isolated island in Asia, and with elements of modern human behaviour in tool making and hunting, is truly remarkable and could not have been predicted by previous discoveries," Brown said in a statement.

Local legends tell of hobbit-like creatures existing on islands long ago but there has been no evidence of them.

DESCENDENT OF HOMO ERECTUS

The hominin family tree, which includes humans and pre-humans, diverged from the chimpanzee line about 7 million years ago. Early African hominins walked upright, were small and had tiny brains.

The new species, dubbed "Flores man", is thought to be a descendent of Homo erectus, which had a large brain, was full-sized and spread out from Africa to Asia about 2 million years ago.

The new species became isolated on Flores and evolved into its dwarf form to conform with conditions, such as food shortages. Flores, which was probably never connected to the mainland, was home to a variety of exotic creatures including a dwarf form of the primitive elephant Stegodon.

Modern humans had reached Australia about 45,000 years ago but they may not have passed through Flores. The scientists suspect the new species became extinct after a massive volcanic eruption on the island about 12,000 years ago.

Brown and his colleagues have found the remains of seven other dwarf individuals at the same site since the first find.

"The other individuals all show similar characteristics, and over a time range that now extends from as long ago as 95,000 years to as recently as 13,000 years ago -- a population of hobbits that seemed to disappear at about the same time as the pygmy elephants that they hunted," said Bert Roberts, one of the authors of the Nature study.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: archaeology; crevolist; flores; floresiensis; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; hobbit; hobbits; homofloresiensis; mikemorwood; multiregionalism; oliverthemissinglink; tlotr
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1 posted on 10/27/2004 10:51:55 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: presidio9

Okay, I gotta at least bump this one. :-D


2 posted on 10/27/2004 10:52:49 AM PDT by k2blader (It is neither compassionate nor conservative to support the expansion of socialism.)
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To: presidio9

It probably WAS a chimp. I don't have too much faith in what these so called scientists find. They've been wrong before.


3 posted on 10/27/2004 10:52:50 AM PDT by Marysecretary
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To: presidio9

You've got to be pulling my Legolas...


4 posted on 10/27/2004 10:52:50 AM PDT by The Hollywood Conservative (I can't even make a tagline because I'm a GIANT IDIOT!!!)
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To: presidio9
Are they sure that it isn't just the long-lost Danny Devito burying ground?
5 posted on 10/27/2004 10:52:52 AM PDT by atomicpossum (If there are two Americas, John Edwards isn't qualified to lead either of them.)
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FRODOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


6 posted on 10/27/2004 10:53:06 AM PDT by oolatec
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To: presidio9

Bump for the crazy LOTR comments that are bound to mark this thread.


7 posted on 10/27/2004 10:53:07 AM PDT by mattdono ("Crush the democrats, drive them before you, and hear the lamentations of the scumbags" -Big Arnie)
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To: HairOfTheDog

Ping. ;-)


8 posted on 10/27/2004 10:53:47 AM PDT by k2blader (It is neither compassionate nor conservative to support the expansion of socialism.)
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To: presidio9

Is this a joke?


9 posted on 10/27/2004 10:53:49 AM PDT by Leonine
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To: presidio9

Ok, but did this "woman" have any monkey fishing gear with her?


10 posted on 10/27/2004 10:53:53 AM PDT by swilhelm73 (Democrats and free speech are like oil and water)
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To: presidio9
"Frodo Lives" - well, I guess not.
11 posted on 10/27/2004 10:54:42 AM PDT by PMCarey
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To: presidio9; blam

Thanks for posting. Just heard this on the radio.

Can't believe scientists may have to change another "theory"./sarc


12 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:12 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe (If it weren't for double standards liberals would have no standards at all)
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PEOPLE!
It's a work of FICTION.


13 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:27 AM PDT by Constitution Day (I don't know where the sunbeams end and the starlights begin, it's all a mystery...)
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To: ecurbh; RosieCotton

ecurbh, Ring Ping?

Why am I getting these "New Zealander Builds Hobbit-Hole" flashbacks?


14 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:36 AM PDT by JenB
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To: presidio9

Fascinating. Now all kinds of studies comparing Flores with living African pygmy counterparts can begin.


15 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:42 AM PDT by stanz (Those who don't believe in evolution should go jump off the flat edge of the Earth.)
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To: 2Jedismom; 300winmag; Alkhin; Alouette; ambrose; Anitius Severinus Boethius; artios; AUsome Joy; ...

Ring Ping!!

The Hobbit Hole :: Troop Support Projects

Anyone wishing to be added to or removed from the Ring-Ping list, please don't hesitate to let me know.

16 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:43 AM PDT by ecurbh () ()
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To: presidio9

I didn't even know that Robert Reich had died.


17 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:52 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: presidio9

Forget the skeleton; find the Ring! ;)


18 posted on 10/27/2004 10:55:54 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves
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To: swilhelm73
Ok, but did this "woman" have any monkey fishing gear with her?

Would that make her one of these?


19 posted on 10/27/2004 10:56:00 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: StoneColdGOP

ping!


20 posted on 10/27/2004 10:56:28 AM PDT by Bella_Bru (It's for the children = It takes a village)
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