"Basically, the wrist evidSome truth behind the myths?ence tells us that modern humans and Neanderthals share an evolutionary grandparent that the hobbits do not, but all three share an evolutionary great-grandparent. If you think of modern humans and Neanderthals as being first cousins, then the hobbit is more like a second cousin to both," Tocheri said.
There was debate if these little humanoids were actually deformed homosapiens, however, new studies show this is not the case.
Now, a study of the bones in the creature's left wrist lends weight to the human ancestor theory, according to a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
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.What did they look like?
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.."
Well, not quite so cute as Bilbo -
"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 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."
A few more relatives
1 HOMO HABILIS ~ NICKNAME: Handyman LIVED: 2.4 to 1.6 million years ago
2 HOMO SAPIEN ~ NICKNAME: Human LIVED: 200,000 years ago to present
3 HOMO FLORESIENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Hobbit LIVED: 95,000 to 13,000 years ago
4 HOMO ERECTUS ~ NICKNAME: Erectus LIVED: 1.8 million years to 100,000 years ago
5 PARANTHROPUS BOISEI ~ NICKNAME: Nutcracker man LIVED: 2.3 to 1.4 million years
6 HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Goliath LIVED: 700,000 to 300,000 years
7 HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Neanderthal LIVED: 250,000 to 30,000 years ago
7 comments:
That reminds me, I must organise my photos of this summer's family reumion. :)
Actually, I was just wondering; do artists ever depict them all as women?
LOL, that bottom picture. Put computers in front of them and it's SDA's faithful readership. D'oh!
The guy on the left looks like a pubescent wookie.
Seriously, what does it mean for us that we're the only ones left on our family tree? Did we off all the rest of these guys?
dan, must you force me to state the obvious? There wasn't room for them on the Arc.
I've read that there are several reasons our SDA (I love that!) cousins died out. Some couldn't compete with stronger, more advanced species, others may have been killed out in fights over territories, but not necessarily by homosapiens, others evolved. The hobbit group, apparently evolved from a larger species, or so some scientists believe, "downsizing" in order to survive while requiring less sustenance.
I love these types of blog arguments but frankly, I wish there were more specimens available to address these ongoing debates. It’s getting tiresome hearing this wrangling about this single find. The discovery of Homo floresiensis could be one of the great stories in human evolution and hopefully we’ll know more once the original research team gets back to the caves in Flores and to the other islands. Hard to believe, but their work was halted by the Indonesian government at one point further adding fuel to this mess.
Of course, I have a vested interest in hoping this story has some validity to it, having written a fictional adventure novel called Flores Girl on the recent find. One
of the major themes of the novel is how a find like this challenges all of our preconceived notions about god and our place in the universe. I regularly get emails from the faithful contending that I am biased against religion whereas the novel is actually quite sympathetic to the true believers. I guess they are on edge when a find like this ruffles their feathers. If you are interested, there is more on the novel and this ongoing controversy about Homo floresiensis at www.floresgirl.com. That meet the folks images is too funny!
Erik John Bertel
Erik, historical fiction is a great way of bringing eras to life for readers. I'm not a big Mitchener fan, but I was very young and struggling with religion when I read "The Source." I thought he did a wonderful job at showing the evolution of religion, and as you say with your novel, he was sympathetic to religions.
I have to admit I know nothing about podcasts, but now have a reason to learn.
Homo floresiensis is fascinating. I made light of it, but that they existed so recently, and that they may have evolved from a larger species catches the imagination. Why did the Indonesian government put a stop to research?
Best of luck with your novels. I'll be reading them!
The more I look at that picture, the more I think how feeble Homo Sapiens looks. He could probably take out the hobbit, but the rest of them could take him one-handed. He must have had to think fast a lot. And the moral of that is: the sneaky, scrawny little weasels win.
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