Hobbits Are a New Human Species: Study of Fossils Concludes

[jus_the_facts]

http://news.discovery.com/animals/hobbits-are-a-new-human-species-study-of-fossils-concludes.html?

*snip*

Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease. Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Details of the study appear in the December issue of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, published by Wiley-Blackwell.

In 2003 Australian and Indonesian scientists discovered small-bodied, small-brained, hominin (human-like) fossils on the remote island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago. This discovery of a new human species called Homo floresiensis has spawned much debate with some researchers claiming that the small creatures are really modern humans whose tiny head and brain are the result of a medical condition called microcephaly.


COOL! :)

[jus_the_facts]

1. kick for the hobbit folken

[Gwendolyn]

2. Did they have Flintstone feet for real? :-D

[jus_the_facts]

4. LOL

:hi:

[Thickasabrick]

3. This makes me want to go back and read the Hobbit again. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

15. Always worthwhile! nt

[Bonobo]

5. The local tribe on the island had stories passed down about the florensis (Hobbit)

If I remember the story I read correctly, the local tribe called them something like "old gradmas who eat everything" because the tribe had brought them offerings on these plates made of plants and the hobbits ate the plates included. Also stories of them taking human babies.

The hobbits they found were only 36,000 years old and they were descended from a species that we thought had been extinct for millions of years!

[Pithlet]

6. That is cool.

I remember reading an article about this in Discover a while back.

[jus_the_facts]

17. There were previous posts made here but this artice was updated....

...so I had to share it! :hi:

[Canuckistanian]

7. I thought they concluded that it was the "island effect"

Where elephants only grew to 6 feet tall and also produced smaller humans because of the reduced need for size in a small environment.

I guess they've revised that theory for the "Hobbits".

[14thColony]

8. In effect, that IS the conclusion here

But instead of miniaturized Homo Sapiens, they were miniaturized Homo Habilus or Homo Erectus, or perhaps some other form not yet identified. So they were smaller humans, just not the you-and-me kind.

[Bonobo]

11. Yes, Homo Erectus millions of years AFTER they should have been gone!

Blows my mind.

[14thColony]

16. I know -- the anthro community will be circling the wagons to defend the dogma on this one!

I think we will soon find that the actual history of 'man' (in all his forms) is waaaaay more complicated than even the not-exactly-easy version we have now. Anthropologists seems to like 'complete replacements' where one homo species completely replaces another, just like for a long time archaeologists favored the same all-or-nothing explanations of modern human history. It appears reality isn't quite so enamored of that idea though.

Makes me wonder what other isolated H. Erectus or H. Neandertalis populations might have survived much longer than we have thought.

[Dead_Parrot]

9. You can have both

Insular dwarfism may reduce a populations stature, but doesn't necessarily mean they will be speciated from the parent population (although the longer the population remains cut off the greater the probability becomes).

In this case, Homo floresiensis could be
- a dwarfed version of homo sapiens,
- a dwarfed & sub-specieated homo sapiens,
- a dwarfed version of another known hominid
- a dwarfed & sub-specieated other known hominid
- something new.

The article suggests the first two have been ruled out, but I think it will be a while before the hobbits find their place in out tree. :)

(Disclaimer: I'm carefully dancing around the definition of "species" here - that's a whole new bun-fight :) )

[nashville_brook]

10. like Key Deer!!

[Pithlet]

12. OMG, I think that's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. where's my bow and arrow?

Those damn rodents keep getting to the garden, and the nearest forest is a mile away.

[JerseygirlCT]

14. But did they really have furry feet? nt