Anthropologist Confirms 'Hobbit' Indeed A Seperate (Human) Species

Science Daily ^ | 1-29-2007 | Florida State University

[blam]

Florida State University
Date: January 29, 2007

Anthropologist Confirms 'Hobbit' Indeed A Separate Species

Science Daily — After the skeletal remains of an 18,000-year-old, Hobbit-sized human were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, some scientists thought that the specimen must have been a pygmy or a microcephalic -- a human with an abnormally small skull.

Not so, said Dean Falk, a world-renowned paleoneurologist and chair of Florida State University's anthropology department, who along with an international team of experts created detailed maps of imprints left on the ancient hominid's braincase and concluded that the so-called Hobbit was actually a new species closely related to Homo sapiens.

Now after further study, Falk is absolutely convinced that her team was right and that the species cataloged as LB1, Homo floresiensis, is definitely not a human born with microcephalia -- a somewhat rare pathological condition that still occurs today. Usually the result of a double-recessive gene, the condition is characterized by a small head and accompanied by some mental retardation.

"We have answered the people who contend that the Hobbit is a microcephalic," Falk said of her team's study of both normal and microcephalic human brains published in the Jan. 29 issue of the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States).

The debate stemmed from the fact that archaeologists had found sophisticated tools and evidence of a fire near the remains of the 3-foot-tall adult female with a brain roughly one-third the size of a contemporary human.

"People refused to believe that someone with that small of a brain could make the tools. How could it be a sophisticated new species?"

But that's exactly what it is, according to Falk, whose team had previously created a "virtual endocast" from a three-dimensional computer model of the Hobbit's braincase, which reproduces the surface of the brain including its shape, grooves, vessels and sinuses. The endocasts revealed large parts of the frontal lobe and other anatomical features consistent with higher cognitive processes.

"LB1 has a highly evolved brain," she said. "It didn't get bigger, it got rewired and reorganized, and that's very interesting."

In this latest study, the researchers compared 3-D, computer-generated reconstructions of nine microcephalic modern human brains and 10 normal modern human brains. They found that certain shape features completely separate the two groups and that Hobbit classifies with normal humans rather than microcephalic humans in these features. In other ways, however, Hobbit's brain is unique, which is consistent with its attribution to a new species.

Comparison of two areas in the frontal lobe, the temporal lobe and the back of the brain show the Hobbit brain is nothing like a microcephalic's and is advanced in a way that is different from living humans. In fact, the LB1 brain was the "antithesis" of the microcephalic brain, according to Falk, a finding the researchers hope puts this part of the Hobbit controversy to rest.

It's time to move on to other important questions, Falk said, namely the origin of this species that co-existed at the same time that Homo sapiens was presumed to be the Earth's sole human inhabitant.

"It's the $64,000 question: Where did it come from?" she said. "Who did it descend from, who are its relatives, and what does it say about human evolution? That's the real excitement about this discovery."

Falk's co-authors on the PNAS paper, "Brain shape in human microcephalics and Homo floresiensis," are Charles Hildebolt, Kirk Smith and Fred Prior of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; M.J. Morwood of the University of New England in Australia; Thomas Sutikna, E. Wayhu Saptomo and Jatmiko of the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology in Indonesia; Herwig Imhof of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria; and Horst Seidler of the University of Vienna, Austria.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Florida State University.

[SunkenCiv]

Blam, I tried twice to post this one as a separate article (no luck on finding a single URL for it, but I have the whole text), so I'm pickin' this spot for it. Update to the GGG list members, to this January 2007 topic.

When archaeologists working on the Indonesian island of Flores announced a new species of human, Bob Eckhardt and colleagues set about debunking their claim
by Charles Fergus
updated April 23. 2007
Penn State

Anthropologists frequently cite a unique shape or placement of teeth when describing a new species. According to Morwood's team, a CT scan had demonstrated the absence of a third molar for LB1. Etty Indriati had found the existing socket and a tooth fragment where the "missing" molar should have been. But LB1's teeth displayed other peculiarities, including enlarged wear surfaces, long roots, and an unusual rotated position of premolars in the upper jaw. "Those traits were characterized as unique," says Eckhardt. "But it turns out that the rotated premolars are shared by about 20 percent of the people still living in Rampasasa, a village near Liang Bua." This particular Australomelanesian population is short-statured enough to be known as the Rampasasa pygmies. Many individuals in the population show receding chins (another supposed species-distinguishing characteristic), leading Eckhardt and his colleagues to state in their PNAS paper: "Absence of a chin cannot be a valid taxonomic character for the Liang Bua mandibles." The Jacob team contends that Morwood and his research group should have compared LB1's teeth with those of other populations in the same region, such as the Rampasasa cohort, rather than with Homo sapiens from other geographic areas of the world, principally Europe and Africa.

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Base of LB1 skull showing socket of alleged "congenitally missing" upper right third molar. Courtesy R.B. Eckhardt

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[night reader]

Anthropologist Confirms 'Hobbit' Indeed A Separate (Human) Species

Well, that would explain James Carville...
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Carville's human???

[mcar]

perfect

[Vicomte13]

LOL!!!

Hurtsss us it doesss, yessss, my precioussss, our sssidess isss hurting! Makess usss laugh, it doess, yesss, my preciousss!

[Vicomte13]

“It’d be interesting to see what Tolkien had in mind when he was conceiving the race of Orcs for his novels. I’m surprised that C.A.I.R. (the Council of Angry Islamic Racicals) hasn’t protested the Ring series...”

Elves twisted by the evil of the Devil is what Tolkien had in mind.

[colonialhk]

Add a picture of Robert Reich

[spyone]

Wow, that is an astounding statistic! Is this a consensus fact?

[blam]

Here's the latest news on this subject:

Small skull, huge controversy: Saga of the Flores 'hobbit' continues

[spyone]

No, I meant the 2,000-10,000 survivors of Toba worldwide.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

There is more...

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[blam]

Yes, It can still be seen in your/our DNA. Read here:

Late Pleostocene Human Population Bottlenecks. . . (Toba)

[mcar]

Saw it on "Caption Time: Obama and The Rev. Al Sharpton"
Still funny! Must have taken some time...

[spyone]

Wow...what a mind blower...thanks so much Blam. Embarrased to say I’d never heard of Toba before. Your comments have unleashed a whole new area of study for me. I am grateful!

[Vicomte13]

LOL!

The two best were John McCain and Al Gore. I like John McCain, but that was too damned funny.

The two that don’t work are Rumsfeld and Cheney.
You should cast Faramir’s captain, the grizzled warrior who warms him that failure to turn over the Ring to his father will be his death, and the one who dies defending Osgiliath) as Rumsfeld. That works.
For Cheney, the Elf just doesn’t quite work. It’s too bad that Cheney doesn’t look like Gimli. Unfortunately for Cave Man Cheney, Grima really is his image double.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

It’s too bad that Cheney doesn’t look like Gimli.

That is John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia...

[Vicomte13]

That works!

When I saw the McCain one I laughed so hard I peed.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

The two that don’t work are Rumsfeld and Cheney. For Cheney, the Elf just doesn’t quite work.

Tommy Thompson?