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New Fossils Strengthen Case for ‘Hobbit’ Species
The New York Times ^ | 08 June 2016 | Carl Zimmer

Posted on 06/08/2016 2:34:47 PM PDT by Theoria

Scientists digging in the Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores years ago found a tiny humanlike skull, then a pelvis, jaw and other bones, all between 60,000 and 100,000 years old.

The fossils, the scientists concluded, belonged to individuals who stood just three feet tall — an unknown species, related to modern humans, that they called Homo floresiensis or, more casually, the hobbits.

On Wednesday, researchers reported that they had discovered still older remains on the island, including teeth, a piece of a jaw and 149 stone tools dating back 700,000 years. The finding suggests that the ancestors of the hobbits arrived on Flores about a million years ago, the scientists said, and evolved into their own distinct branch of the hominin tree.

But without other parts of a skeleton, such as the skull, hands or feet, they can’t be sure whether the newly discovered fossils also belong to Homo floresiensis or instead to some other ancient relative of humans (known generally as hominins).

“We have to be careful,” said Gert van den Bergh, a paleontologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia and a co-author of the new study. “Until we find those elements, we cannot really say much more about it.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: flores; fossils; gay; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; hobbit; hominin; homofloresiensis; inbreeding; indonesia; liangbua; liangbuacave; midgets; multiregionalism; munchkins; paleontology; pigmies
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1 posted on 06/08/2016 2:34:47 PM PDT by Theoria
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To: SunkenCiv

ad hominem ping....


2 posted on 06/08/2016 2:35:05 PM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: Theoria; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks Theoria.

3 posted on 06/08/2016 2:39:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
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To: Theoria

How do they know it’s not a child?


4 posted on 06/08/2016 2:39:31 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Theoria
Did they find hair follicles near the feet bones?
5 posted on 06/08/2016 2:40:15 PM PDT by PROCON
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To: Beowulf9
How do they know it’s not a child?

Teeth, maybe.

6 posted on 06/08/2016 2:41:36 PM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Theoria

More Darwinian smoke being blown up the ass. Trying to create a new falsehood to the drones.


7 posted on 06/08/2016 2:44:58 PM PDT by Busko (The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain.)
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To: Theoria

Uh, aren’t these also called pygmies?


8 posted on 06/08/2016 2:47:06 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: Theoria

Homini more will they find?


9 posted on 06/08/2016 2:48:29 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 ((("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione."))))))
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To: Beowulf9

“How do they know it’s not a child?”

The growing ends of the bones are fused, perhaps?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate
Just a thought. :)


10 posted on 06/08/2016 2:52:25 PM PDT by moose07 (DMCS (Dit Me Cong San ) - Nah. ...Ermentrude chewed on some more grass and watched....)
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To: Theoria

I already knew there was a Hobbit species. How do I know? If James Carville isn’t Gollum I’ll eat your hat.
5.56mm


11 posted on 06/08/2016 2:54:30 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Lil'freeper

Ping!


12 posted on 06/08/2016 3:04:06 PM PDT by sauropod (Beware the fury of a patient man.)
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To: Busko

>>More Darwinian smoke being blown up the ass. Trying to create a new falsehood to the drones.<<

You have refutation of the evidence? Produce it, please.


13 posted on 06/08/2016 3:06:45 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Don't mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance, or my kindness for weakness)
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To: M Kehoe

Gollum is a snake??


14 posted on 06/08/2016 3:44:44 PM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: Theoria

Robert Reich’s ancestor?


15 posted on 06/08/2016 4:13:54 PM PDT by buckalfa (I am feeling much better now.)
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To: Theoria

They’ve also been seen much more recently.

A Munchkin Welcome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KSiyaqnZYs


16 posted on 06/08/2016 4:35:32 PM PDT by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." --Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: Theoria
Scientists digging in the Liang Bua cave

They've been and dug up Bagshot Row.

17 posted on 06/08/2016 4:41:00 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: Theoria

I wonder if they found any gold rings among the remains....


18 posted on 06/08/2016 4:41:11 PM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: Beowulf9
How do they know it’s not a child?

The bones were found near the Second Breakfast cook fire.

19 posted on 06/08/2016 4:47:04 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: Theoria

They are called hominins because their diet consisted mainly of hominy?


20 posted on 06/08/2016 5:46:54 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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