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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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To: aculeus; TheBigB; Constitution Day; Tijeras_Slim; HairOfTheDog; pissant
They're still here (and they look faaaaabulous)!
To: TaxRelief
speaking of dwarfs...when is a 40 inch tall man a giant? When he stands next to a 32 inch tall man. Actors Mikey Post and Verne (I Shall Call Him) "Mini Me" Troyer.
To: aculeus
If I had deleted "hobbit-sized" from the headline would this have been placed in the News forum? I donno, but in "Chat" we're unlikely to get to 100 posts.
43
posted on
10/11/2005 11:54:07 AM PDT
by
PatrickHenry
( I won't respond to a troll, crackpot, retard, or incurable ignoramus.)
To: Pippin
Thanks Pippin, I love it!
*waves to all the other HHdwellers*
44
posted on
10/11/2005 11:58:43 AM PDT
by
Alkhin
(Let all the earth keep silence.)
To: nmh
Dwarves have adult-human-sized heads (disproportionate to the bodies).
45
posted on
10/11/2005 12:08:34 PM PDT
by
MeanWestTexan
(Many at FR would respond to Christ "Darn right, I'll cast the first stone!")
To: PatrickHenry
Perhaps they were merely raped by a leprechaun.
46
posted on
10/11/2005 12:10:48 PM PDT
by
MeanWestTexan
(Many at FR would respond to Christ "Darn right, I'll cast the first stone!")
To: aculeus
Robert Reich
47
posted on
10/11/2005 12:13:10 PM PDT
by
Airborne1986
(Well, you can do what you want to us. But we're not going to sit here while you badmouth the U.S.A.)
To: aculeus
48
posted on
10/11/2005 12:17:05 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
To: MeanWestTexan
raped by a leprechaunSuch things have been known to happen.
49
posted on
10/11/2005 12:25:50 PM PDT
by
PatrickHenry
( I won't respond to a troll, crackpot, retard, or incurable ignoramus.)
To: PatrickHenry
Funny, I've been assured that the Floriensis find was one of those premature announcements based on scientists assuming things from shapes of bones and "it turned out" to be just a microcephalic. So now we have at least three of them. They were ALL microcephalics. Odd.
50
posted on
10/11/2005 1:31:16 PM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(I'll have a few sleepless nights after I send you over, sure! But it'll pass.)
To: MeanWestTexan
And how do you explain this away?
"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."
I know you'll have some kind of a explanation ... I can see you're an "expert".
LOL!
51
posted on
10/11/2005 2:03:23 PM PDT
by
nmh
(Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
To: nmh
Wow, you are hateful and assuming a lot that is incorrect.
You said the find might be of a "dwarf." I stated that it was impossible for it to have been a dwarf, because it would have a normal-sized head. (A normal head is the opposite of "microcephaly," BTW.)
I neither endorsed, nor critizied, the article, merely noted your error, and owe you no explanation about anything.
So "LOL" all you want.
Or, be a real man and apologize for making an ass out of yourself.
52
posted on
10/11/2005 2:23:09 PM PDT
by
MeanWestTexan
(Many at FR would respond to Christ "Darn right, I'll cast the first stone!")
To: TaxRelief
"Want to see my little friend?"
53
posted on
10/11/2005 3:19:44 PM PDT
by
Doctor Stochastic
(Vegetabilisch = chaotisch ist der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
To: MeanWestTexan
An apology from a known liar like nmh? He's much more likely to deny having made the comment that you discredited in the first place.
54
posted on
10/11/2005 3:23:20 PM PDT
by
Dimensio
(http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif <-- required reading before you use your next apostrophe!)
To: MeanWestTexan
"Wow, you are hateful and assuming a lot that is incorrect."
Maybe DU is the forum for you!
I only questioned what you stated and "Wow" did you get your undies in knots!
"You said the find might be of a "dwarf." I stated that it was impossible for it to have been a dwarf, because it would have a normal-sized head. (A normal head is the opposite of "microcephaly," BTW.) "
Or a midget?
"I neither endorsed, nor critizied, the article, merely noted your error, and owe you no explanation about anything."
So why did you give one? Next time, don't bother till you have your emotions under control.
"So "LOL" all you want."
I continue to find you "LOL"!
"Or, be a real man and apologize for making an ass out of yourself."
Perhaps you ought to be the first to do that since I have nothing to "apologize" for. You have plenty.
BTW, spell checker is a good tool to use.
55
posted on
10/11/2005 3:31:12 PM PDT
by
nmh
(Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
To: Dimensio
You are correct. He's an idiot and a liar.
56
posted on
10/11/2005 4:02:56 PM PDT
by
MeanWestTexan
(Many at FR would respond to Christ "Darn right, I'll cast the first stone!")
To: nmh
"Of they could have been dwarfs ir if you wish midgets."(post 2)
"BTW, spell checker is a good tool to use."
Spell checker isn't YOUR friend it seems, either.
57
posted on
10/11/2005 4:14:34 PM PDT
by
CarolinaGuitarman
("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
To: MeanWestTexan; Dimensio
Gentlemen, let's not get carried away. I recommend that you consider the message of my tagline. It's the distillation of six years' experience on this website.
58
posted on
10/11/2005 4:14:53 PM PDT
by
PatrickHenry
( I won't respond to a troll, crackpot, retard, or incurable ignoramus.)
To: nmh
BTW, why didn't you feel it necessary to post the NEXT sentence in the article:
"'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."
Or:
"He (Lieberman) 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. "
59
posted on
10/11/2005 4:19:25 PM PDT
by
CarolinaGuitarman
("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
To: js1138
I've read that breeders of dogs and other animals know that you can selectively reduce an animals size but, their brains don't reduce proportionally. That's why it's very unlikely that the hobbits are dwarf branch off humans. They're probably a branch off the much older Erectus. If so, the dates would indicate they outlived Neanderthal by at least 10,000 years.
60
posted on
10/11/2005 4:34:47 PM PDT
by
shuckmaster
(Bring back SeaLion and ModernMan!)
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