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More bones of hobbit-sized humans discovered
Reuters ^ | October 11, 2005 | By Patricia Reaney

Posted on 10/11/2005 8:34:12 AM PDT by aculeus

LONDON (Reuters) - Australian scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered more remains of hobbit-sized humans which belong to a previously unknown species that lived at the end of the last Ice Age.

Professor Mike Morwood, of the University of New England, in Armidale, Australia, stunned the science world last year when he and his team announced the discovery of 18,000-year-old remains of a new human species called Homo floresiensis.

The partial skeleton discovered in a limestone cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 was of a tiny adult hominid, or early human, only one meter (3 feet tall), that would have walked upright and had a chimpanzee-sized brain.

Morwood and his team said it represented a unique species of early humans that evolved to a naturally small size because of environmental conditions and the isolation of the island, which was also home to exotic creatures such as miniature elephants and Komodo dragons.

But critics suggested the small hominid was not a new species and was more likely a pygmy human or a creature that suffered from a form of microcephaly, a condition that causes an unusually small brain.

"The finds further demonstrate ...(it) is not just an aberrant or pathological individual but is representative of a long-term population," Morwood and his team said in a report in the science journal Nature.

CHINLESS WONDERS

The newly found remains, dug up in 2004, consist of a jaw, as well as arm and other bones which the researchers believe were from at least nine individuals.

A jaw bone reported last year and the latest one were probably from the same species, according to the scientists. Both share similar dental features and lacked chins.

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 from Africa to Asia about 2 million years ago.

"Although the original skeleton is estimated to be 18,000 years old, a child's radius (arm bone) was found in deposits estimated to be 12,000 years old," Daniel Lieberman, of Harvard University in Massachusetts, said in a commentary in the journal.

He added that if the remains were from a population of short microcephalic humans they would have had to survive a long time or been susceptible to a high frequency of dwarfism.

"Such possibilities strain credulity," Lieberman added.

CAT scans of the inside of the skull found in 2003 suggested it was a normal adult and not a diseased or mutant species. The brain could have been advanced enough for tool-making.

But Robert Martin, provost and vice president of academic affairs at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois is unconvinced.

"Whatever else is true, that brain is simply too small for an 18,000 year-old hominid," he told Reuters.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: archaeology; flores; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; hobbit; homofloresiensis; mikemorwood; morphology; multiregionalism; origins; weethepeople
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1 posted on 10/11/2005 8:34:16 AM PDT by aculeus
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To: aculeus

"But critics suggested the small hominid was not a new species and was more likely a pygmy human or a creature that suffered from a form of microcephaly, a condition that causes an unusually small brain."

Of they could have been dwarfs ir if you wish midgets. And guess what? They still exist today!


2 posted on 10/11/2005 8:37:45 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: aculeus
maybe they just found a midget burial ground....where all the tall people stuffed the dead midgets into the ground...

Ok, next problem for the great Carnac!

3 posted on 10/11/2005 8:37:55 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
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To: aculeus

So Australia was middle-earth! Cool.


4 posted on 10/11/2005 8:38:02 AM PDT by American Quilter
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Heading back home to the Shire.

5 posted on 10/11/2005 8:38:35 AM PDT by evets (God bless president Bush!)
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To: American Quilter

Naaaaaaaaaassssssssttttttyyyyyy Hobbitsessssss.


6 posted on 10/11/2005 8:40:51 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
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To: aculeus

microcephaly, a condition that causes an unusually small brain.

&&
So, they were Democrats?


7 posted on 10/11/2005 8:49:26 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Do not trust Democrats with national security!)
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To: American Quilter; HairOfTheDog; Alkhin; ecurbh; Corin Stormhands; RosieCotton; 2Jedismom; ...
Knew there was a reason for Peter Jackson to film LOTR in New Zealand! :o)

Hey, HH dwellers!

Come and see this!

9 posted on 10/11/2005 8:50:31 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: American Quilter

Sorry about the double post, I had post #8 deleted as it was an incomplete post.


10 posted on 10/11/2005 8:52:40 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: Admin Moderator
RE#8

Thanks! :o)

11 posted on 10/11/2005 8:54:10 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: Pippin

Heh... I've seen a few stories about this! Very interesting :~D


12 posted on 10/11/2005 8:54:14 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog (Join the Hobbit Hole Troop Support - http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net/)
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To: HairOfTheDog

Thought the rest of the folks on your HH pinglist would be interested too.


13 posted on 10/11/2005 8:55:23 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: ExpatGator

It comes in pints? I'm getting one!


14 posted on 10/11/2005 9:06:15 AM PDT by American Quilter
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To: SunkenCiv
I don't know how to do links so I thought I'd ping you to this thread.

An interesting read.

15 posted on 10/11/2005 9:08:27 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: Dick Vomer

Very true. The Discovery Channel ran a show on this very topic. Or maybe it was on the Home & Garden Channel under "Canning in the Ice Age"


16 posted on 10/11/2005 9:11:15 AM PDT by Maximus of Texas (Pull my finger)
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To: Pippin

They probably will, and it looked like you had pinged those likely to be on my list. Hubby has the big list for LoTR news... but I don't know if he'll be able to see it and ping it till tonight.... he's at work.


17 posted on 10/11/2005 9:11:20 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog (Join the Hobbit Hole Troop Support - http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net/)
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To: aculeus

Guess the Nazgul got 'em.


18 posted on 10/11/2005 9:19:08 AM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: HairOfTheDog
I did?

Thanks :o)

19 posted on 10/11/2005 9:26:14 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: HairOfTheDog
I did?

Thanks :o)

20 posted on 10/11/2005 9:26:28 AM PDT by Pippin
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