Posted on 09/16/2005 7:05:03 PM PDT by blam
Small brain did not stop Hobbit having big ideas
By Nic Fleming and Roger Highfield in Dublin
(Filed: 08/09/2005)
A fossil of a diminutive human nicknamed "the Hobbit" does indeed represent a previously unrecognised species of early Man, according to a new technique that suggests it was a cultured little fellow.
Sceptics had argued that the Hobbit, discovered in Indonesia and first announced last year, could have been an individual who suffered from microcephalya, a disorder that limits brain growth.
The fossils' discoverers had suggested that the Hobbit was either a pygmy form of a known species or a previously undiscovered species of early human.
Yesterday Nathan Jeffery of the University of Liverpool described a new way to study the imprint left by the brain on the inside of fossilised skulls.
His work adds fuel to a debate about how advanced the Hobbit's mental abilities might have been.
The cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, where scientists found the fossil, also contained remnants of stone tools, fire, and a pygmy elephant, suggesting but not proving that Homo floresiensis may have had surprisingly advanced cognitive abilities given its chimpanzee-sized brain.
The endocranial volume of the Hobbit is about 380cc to 417cc. "This is considerably smaller than expected for any Homo species, even one of such diminutive stature, and is only slightly bigger than that of living chimps (383cc).
"Unlike chimps, H. floresiensis was found alongside some very impressive looking stone tools. Most modern humans would struggle to fashion such elegant tools in a timely manner let alone some dwarf-like and presumably slow-witted hominid," he said, adding that either the stone tools belonged to some other larger-brained hominid or else our assumptions about brain size were "utterly wrong".
The latter seems to be the case according to his study of X-ray scans of fossils, living apes and modern humans. Dr Jeffery has revealed a simple yet effective measure of the endocranial cavity which gives a proportion of frontal and cerebellar parts of the brain and appears to reflect the rudimentary cultural advances between species.
"The proportion for H. floresiensis (168 per cent) falls within the range for Homo erectus (165 -171 per cent) and is approximately 20 percentage points greater than that for the chimps," he said. "As expected the mean proportion for modern humans is much higher than the rest at 205 per cent."
Because Homo erectus is the first hominid to demonstrate clearly what could be called culture, by the use of stone tools, living in camps and with a social organisation that was similar to modern hunter-gatherers, "these findings show that the cognitive and cultural capabilities of H. floresiensis are not entirely inconsistent with the stone tools discovered on Flores".
"Although the brain of Homo floresiensis is very small, it is very similar in its proportions to that of Homo erectus and hence not inconsistent with the stone tool assemblages also found on Flores."
Australian and Indonesian archaeologists began to unearth the Hobbit in 2003.
"Small Brain" = "Weatherman"
"Discreteness and productivity, cognitively come from Brocha's area, the arcuate fasticulus, Wernicke's area, and their interactions with the cerebral cortex. Brocha's area controls the scripts the motor cortex will use to physically speak the discrete linguistic elements handed to it through the arcuate fasticulus from Wernicke's area. Socially, this discreteness and productivity is invaluable for cultural transmission and interoperability of human language, as they combine to allow humans to form an infinite amount of unique sentences, most of which they'd never before heard, and be mutually intelligible with members of their community."
Another 20,000 reply thread....
I'm betting his cause of death was blunt-force trauma as a result of being tossed.
I say we extract the DNA from the bones, clone'im, and run'im through a maze.
Ping-a-ling
Another thread on these characters.
The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began,
Now far ahead the Road has gone and I must follow if I can.
What's the mtDNA show? Any results there yet? That should provide a big clue.
I've not seen anything yet. I assure you it will be interesting. (...and, probably confusing.)
I've not seen anything yet. I assure you it will be interesting. (...and, probably confusing.)
Heard a presentation Sunday from one of the three labs that tried to get mtDNA from Kennewick Man. They have the various haplogroups busted up into a lot of subgroups, so they can track folks a lot more accurately now.
They have a paper coming out soon, I hear. Should be interesting.
One specimen from SE Alaska (11,000 BP or so) was traced all the way to Tierra del Fuego and also east of the Mississippi. Movement was north to south, based on these new subgroups.
We're doing science now!
Yup...and, long overdue.
Dimunitive Howard Dean has big ideas...
"Dimunitive Howard Dean has big ideas..."
Now, referring back to the article:
Next to hobbit's tools were also an 8-ball of cocaine, and a bottle of malt liquor which reaffirms the belief he was a democrat.
Nope. They found an 80,000 year old well worn shell necklace with one of the skeletons. I don't believe Homo Erectus was thought to be capable of making necklaces.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.