Mike Morewood who did the archaeology work on Flores compares the Hobbits to the guys in the below linked article.
Stranger In A New Land (Archaeology)
Image: JOHN GURCHE PORTRAIT OF A PIONEER With a brain half the size of a modern one and a brow reminiscent of Homo habilis, this hominid is one of the most primitive members of our genus on record. Paleoartist John Gurche reconstructed this 1.75-million-year-old explorer from a nearly complete teenage H. erectus skull and associated mandible found in Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia. The background figures derive from two partial crania recovered at the site.
Stranded star travelers, who barely made it to shore alive, when their escape pods from their destructing ship hit the drink.
Without tools, power sources, or anything else beyond the scant clothes on their backs, they struggled to survive in the new and hostile environment of the primitive world on which they found themselves.
Alas, the fledgling 'colony' finally succumbed to the strange environment, without ever making contact with the descendants of their far distant ancestors for whom they were searching, who had crashed in Africa in the far distant past....
News...and ships...travels slowly across the vast reaches of intergalactic space, but travel it does. Even as I type, another research & rescue mission is nearing the unsuspecting Sol System, where the siren song of distress beacons play their dirge to the stars.