Posted on 01/15/2016 7:21:04 PM PST by Utilizer
The "hobbit" had neighbors. Back in 2004, researchers announced the discovery of this tiny, ancient human, which apparently hunted dwarf elephants with stone tools on the Indonesian island of Flores 18,000 years ago. Its discoverers called the 1-meter-tall creature Homo floresiensis, but skeptics wondered whether it was just a stunted modern human. In the years since, researchers have debunked many of the "sick hobbit" hypotheses. Yet scientists have continued to wonder where the species came from.
Now, an international team originally led by the hobbit discoverer reports stone tools, dated to 118,000 to 194,000 years ago, from another Indonesian island, Sulawesi, likely made by another archaic human--or possibly by other hobbits. "It shows that on another island we have evidence of a second archaic early human," says paleoanthropologist Russell Ciochon of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, who was not involved with the work. The discovery makes the original hobbit claim appear more plausible, he says, by suggesting that human ancestors may have island-hopped more often than had been thought.
After international debate over the hobbit's origins, co-discoverer Michael Morwood--then an archaeologist at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in Australia--set out to search other islands from which the tiny humans may have come. Java--more than 800 kilometers west of Flores but with a chain of islands in between--was already known to be the ancient home of the human ancestor H. erectus, a globe-trotting species that dates as far back as 1.7 million years ago. But Morwood instead set out for Sulawesi, 400 kilometers to the north, because powerful ocean currents sweep southward from this island toward Flores. Researchers had already found some simple stone tools on Sulawesi, but they couldn't date the artifacts because they were found on the ground rather than buried with datable minerals.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...
Ping...
Hairyous Feetus genus.
All of this is covered in my third book written under the name of my two-headed turtle, Zack and Mack. Anyway the third book is titled “The Smile People: a story of the Earth” It is fiction based upon alternative archeology. If folks want some thinking entertainment, look up Earth Ancients podcast in iTunes. The host is, meh, but the guests are interesting. You can believe the various theories or not, but it does make one think. (disclaimer..I am just a listener of Earth Ancients and in no way connected with the program)
So... they found a sword that answers to the name “Sting”?
Instead of Hobbits, I always picture singing munchkins when the talk turns to Homo Floriensis. Thanks Utilizer.
Erectus Ahoy (Stone Age Voyages)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1006058/posts
Ancient hominids may have been seafarers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2428036/posts
Thanks Utilizer. A good topic for the weekly Digest ping as well.
Hobbits, dwarf, elf, wizard, humans:
Homo floresiensis:
<3 Tanks!
‘Face
My pleasure!
What scientists and others seem to forget is that during periods of the past ice ages, sea level was as much as 400 feet lower. Vast areas of what is now sea floor were exposed and you could walk to current islands or have short raft trips. As the sea level rose, islands became smaller and species that required less territory like small elephants and humans evolved. So much interesting stuff must be under water. Images at the site below show that the British Isles were connected to Europe, Florida was twice the size, and large islands of Southeast Asia were connected to the mainland.
Of course, the twice-the-size Florida will be easier to examine using robotic subs, it’s just a matter of looking for the the shuffleboard courts.
Play nice.
Hey, I didn't mention AOL dialup.
Earliest human occupation of Sulawesi pushed back
http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW208488.html
keyboard spew alert
Also, there is also what appears to be a polyhedral core -- the source of deliberately-manufactured multiple sharp-edged flakes. That does not happen by accident...
One piece may have been used as a hammerstone; I'd really like to handle and examine that one!
Unfortunately, there is at least one piece that definitely appears to be of recent manufacture -- and never even exposed to dirt... (AKA "fake")... :-(
Anyway, I expect I'd have an enjoyable afternoon analyzing them firsthand...
Welcome, mate. Thought this topic might be of interest to you. Hope you had a good weekend as well.
Cheers!
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