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Ancient tools may shed light on the mysterious ‘hobbit’
Science Mag ^ | Jan. 13, 2016 | Elizabeth Culotta

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 ...


TOPICS: History; Science
KEYWORDS: ancientman; ancientnavigation; evolution; flores; godsgravesglyphs; hobbits; homoerectus; homofloriensis; humanhistory; indonesia; java; navigation; realhobbit; sulawesi
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To: gleeaikin
So much interesting stuff must be under water.

Indeed. Atlantis comes to mind... :)

21 posted on 01/17/2016 8:56:48 AM PST by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzrims trying to kill them)
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To: SunkenCiv
"Hey, I didn't mention AOL dialup."

Last year I read that an executive at AOL (I think it was them) was asked (disgusting tone) why they still supplied dial-up. He said: " We still have 6 million paying customers."(or something close to that)

So.....

22 posted on 01/17/2016 11:19:15 AM PST by blam (Jeff Sessions For President)
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To: Utilizer

It’s been a raging success, not even considering the subject matter. :’) Thanks!


23 posted on 01/17/2016 12:02:04 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: blam

I don't doubt it. There are plenty of places (and pocketbooks) which have no broadband access. Plus, I watched this clip a few days ago:
Mulder, Scully and Jimmy Kimmel in The X-Files

24 posted on 01/17/2016 12:02:13 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: TXnMA

:’)

George ‘Rip’ Rapp, Regents Professor of Geoarchaeology Emeritus, University of Mi
http://rip-rapp.com/


25 posted on 01/17/2016 12:03:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: SunkenCiv
And, the best name-pun of the day award goes to...TADAAAH!!

"George ‘Rip’ Rapp, Regents Professor of Geoarchaeology Emeritus, University of MI"

26 posted on 01/18/2016 8:12:21 AM PST by redhead (NO GROUND TO THE DEVIL! Remember BENGHAZI! Use WEAPONIZED PRAYER. NOW.)
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