Cidersomerset
10th June 2016, 19:58
I have been following this since the first articles and docs on TV and in the press.
The sceptic scientists were convinced they were sick humans ancient microcephalic
sufferers. It now seems the consensus is that they are a separate species from one
of the many different kind of hominoids that evolved or were created over the eons.
US scientists say wrist bones show hobbit was not modern human
Z8bLPVi48eo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
x8TM21p0RMQ
Prehistoric ‘hobbits’ were not deformed humans, but another species
R2mFH2csv-8
Published on 16 Feb 2016
French scientists say they have come closer to resolving the riddle of the origin of small
people deemed unlike any others on the planet, whose fossilized bones were found on
an Indonesian island in 2003.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quashed theory for good....
Hobbit was sick human, says new study
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/05/19/1641832.htm
=====================================================
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.18.3/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png
Hobbit find shows tiny humans shrank 'rapidly'
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
8 June 2016
Hobbit SkullImage copyright JAVIER TRUEBA/MSF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/78301000/jpg/_78301704_hobbitskull.jpg
The story of humanity was rewritten 12 years ago by the discovery of the Hobbit. Now
scientists unearth another twist to this epic tale. Scientists have discovered the 700,000-
year-old ancestor of the tiny primitive human known as "the Hobbit".Its fossils indicate
that the normal-sized primitive humans who first set foot on the Indonesian island of
Flores shrank "rapidly" to become Hobbit-sized.The remains are of at least one adult
and two children, who are all just as small as their descendents.A paper in the journal
Nature details the latest findings.The Hobbit's discovery in a cave on Flores created a
sensation 12 years ago. Just a metre in height (hence the affectionate nickname), it
was initially thought they could have been living as recently as 12,000 years ago.
Subsequent analysis has shown they actually existed slightly further back in time,
between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago - not that this lessened the fascination with the
diminutive species more properly called Homo floresiensis.And now comes new research
from some of the scientists involved in the original discovery that reveals insights on the
Hobbit's lineage. The team presents much older fossils, dating back 700,000 years,
unearthed at a site named Mata Menge.
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/120E9/production/_89916937_teeth.jpg
These remains consist of a piece of lower jawbone and several teeth. They are
remarkably similar to those of the Hobbit find in 2004 and are thought to belong to the
ancestors of floresiensis.There are also stone tools at the same site which are much
older still, suggesting ancient human-like creatures lived on Flores a million years ago.
One theory is that these people were another normal-sized species we now refer to as
Homo erectus, which was known to live on the island of Java, about 500 km west of
Flores.
According to Dr Yousuke Kaifu, from Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science,
the discovery of the tiny 700,000 year old hobbit ancestor suggests that erectus might
have shrunk within the space of just 300,000 years, which is a remarkably short period
In evolutionary terms. "What is truly unexpected is that the size of the finds indicates
that Homo floresiensis had already obtained its small size by at least 700,000 years ago."
JawboneImage copyright Kinez Riza
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/F9D9/production/_89916936_jaw.jpg
Dr Gert van den Bergh, from the University of Wollongong's Centre for Archaeological
Science, who led the team, said the entire team was surprised at the small size of the
adult jawbone.
"We were expecting to find something larger than what we found, something closer to
the size of the original founder population, Homo erectus, but it turns out that they
were as small if not smaller than Homo floresiensis."The rapid evolution seems quite
fast but we have no examples of human or primates (shrinking) on other islands to
compare it to."
The theory is that erectus shrank to cope with the Island's relatively meagre resources.
But the big question is how did it get there. Homo erectus was too primitive to build
boats and it was too far for the species to swim from Java to Flores. One possibility, is
that individuals were swept across by a giant tidal wave, according to the researchers.
Excavation siteImage copyright Dr Gerrit van den Bergh/ University of Wollongong
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/102A2/production/_89901266_the-mata-menge-excavations-in-may-2016.png
The 700,000-year-old remains were discovered at the same site as stone tools that are
one million years old But Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London
believes that the evidence for the rapid shrinking theory is circumstantial: "We do not
know how large the tool-makers at one million years actually were, since we do not
have their fossils yet; and, secondly, we cannot be sure that the evidence at one million
years actually represents the first arrival of humans on Flores."
He added: "It is just as likely that the ancestors of (The Hobbit) came from somewhere
like Sulawesi, to the North, and we have no evidence so far of who might have been
there more than a million years ago."
The researchers acknowledge that their argument is based on scant data: one fragment
of a jawbone and a handful of teeth. But Dr Adam Brum of Griffiths University in
Australia says the team hopes to gather more fossils to build up a more complete picture.
"We want to know what the very, very first (humans) that set foot on the island were
like. That involves finding the fossils that date back to before a million years ago and
which go with the stone tools."
Dr van den Bergh added that the discovery of Hobbit-like humans living on Flores
700,000 years ago ruled out the possibility that the discovery in 2004 was of a group of
modern humans who had been stunted by illness.
"This find quashes once and for all any doubters that believe Homo floresiensis was
merely a sick modern human."
Follow Pallab on Twitter
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36463668
=======================================================
Article from 2013
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.18.3/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png
Study backs 'hobbit' island dwarfism theory
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
17 April 2013
Short vid on link....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22166736
The sceptic scientists were convinced they were sick humans ancient microcephalic
sufferers. It now seems the consensus is that they are a separate species from one
of the many different kind of hominoids that evolved or were created over the eons.
US scientists say wrist bones show hobbit was not modern human
Z8bLPVi48eo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
x8TM21p0RMQ
Prehistoric ‘hobbits’ were not deformed humans, but another species
R2mFH2csv-8
Published on 16 Feb 2016
French scientists say they have come closer to resolving the riddle of the origin of small
people deemed unlike any others on the planet, whose fossilized bones were found on
an Indonesian island in 2003.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quashed theory for good....
Hobbit was sick human, says new study
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/05/19/1641832.htm
=====================================================
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.18.3/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png
Hobbit find shows tiny humans shrank 'rapidly'
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
8 June 2016
Hobbit SkullImage copyright JAVIER TRUEBA/MSF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/78301000/jpg/_78301704_hobbitskull.jpg
The story of humanity was rewritten 12 years ago by the discovery of the Hobbit. Now
scientists unearth another twist to this epic tale. Scientists have discovered the 700,000-
year-old ancestor of the tiny primitive human known as "the Hobbit".Its fossils indicate
that the normal-sized primitive humans who first set foot on the Indonesian island of
Flores shrank "rapidly" to become Hobbit-sized.The remains are of at least one adult
and two children, who are all just as small as their descendents.A paper in the journal
Nature details the latest findings.The Hobbit's discovery in a cave on Flores created a
sensation 12 years ago. Just a metre in height (hence the affectionate nickname), it
was initially thought they could have been living as recently as 12,000 years ago.
Subsequent analysis has shown they actually existed slightly further back in time,
between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago - not that this lessened the fascination with the
diminutive species more properly called Homo floresiensis.And now comes new research
from some of the scientists involved in the original discovery that reveals insights on the
Hobbit's lineage. The team presents much older fossils, dating back 700,000 years,
unearthed at a site named Mata Menge.
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/120E9/production/_89916937_teeth.jpg
These remains consist of a piece of lower jawbone and several teeth. They are
remarkably similar to those of the Hobbit find in 2004 and are thought to belong to the
ancestors of floresiensis.There are also stone tools at the same site which are much
older still, suggesting ancient human-like creatures lived on Flores a million years ago.
One theory is that these people were another normal-sized species we now refer to as
Homo erectus, which was known to live on the island of Java, about 500 km west of
Flores.
According to Dr Yousuke Kaifu, from Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science,
the discovery of the tiny 700,000 year old hobbit ancestor suggests that erectus might
have shrunk within the space of just 300,000 years, which is a remarkably short period
In evolutionary terms. "What is truly unexpected is that the size of the finds indicates
that Homo floresiensis had already obtained its small size by at least 700,000 years ago."
JawboneImage copyright Kinez Riza
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/F9D9/production/_89916936_jaw.jpg
Dr Gert van den Bergh, from the University of Wollongong's Centre for Archaeological
Science, who led the team, said the entire team was surprised at the small size of the
adult jawbone.
"We were expecting to find something larger than what we found, something closer to
the size of the original founder population, Homo erectus, but it turns out that they
were as small if not smaller than Homo floresiensis."The rapid evolution seems quite
fast but we have no examples of human or primates (shrinking) on other islands to
compare it to."
The theory is that erectus shrank to cope with the Island's relatively meagre resources.
But the big question is how did it get there. Homo erectus was too primitive to build
boats and it was too far for the species to swim from Java to Flores. One possibility, is
that individuals were swept across by a giant tidal wave, according to the researchers.
Excavation siteImage copyright Dr Gerrit van den Bergh/ University of Wollongong
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/102A2/production/_89901266_the-mata-menge-excavations-in-may-2016.png
The 700,000-year-old remains were discovered at the same site as stone tools that are
one million years old But Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London
believes that the evidence for the rapid shrinking theory is circumstantial: "We do not
know how large the tool-makers at one million years actually were, since we do not
have their fossils yet; and, secondly, we cannot be sure that the evidence at one million
years actually represents the first arrival of humans on Flores."
He added: "It is just as likely that the ancestors of (The Hobbit) came from somewhere
like Sulawesi, to the North, and we have no evidence so far of who might have been
there more than a million years ago."
The researchers acknowledge that their argument is based on scant data: one fragment
of a jawbone and a handful of teeth. But Dr Adam Brum of Griffiths University in
Australia says the team hopes to gather more fossils to build up a more complete picture.
"We want to know what the very, very first (humans) that set foot on the island were
like. That involves finding the fossils that date back to before a million years ago and
which go with the stone tools."
Dr van den Bergh added that the discovery of Hobbit-like humans living on Flores
700,000 years ago ruled out the possibility that the discovery in 2004 was of a group of
modern humans who had been stunted by illness.
"This find quashes once and for all any doubters that believe Homo floresiensis was
merely a sick modern human."
Follow Pallab on Twitter
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36463668
=======================================================
Article from 2013
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.18.3/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png
Study backs 'hobbit' island dwarfism theory
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
17 April 2013
Short vid on link....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22166736