If there's any single thing we can be sure about the Indonesian hobbits, they probably would have hated being called hobbits.
Science Daily: Origins of Indonesian hobbits finally revealed
The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been widely believed.
The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed "the hobbits" due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis -- one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.
Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.
- SD
That notion makes them suddenly much more interesting to the Rockhouse since it means they were part of the general exodus from Africa rather than coming via some more convoluted path.
"The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor," Dr Argue said.
"It's possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere."
Homo floresiensis is known to have lived on Flores until as recently as 54,000 years ago.
The study was the result of an Australian Research Council grant in 2010 that enabled the researchers to explore where the newly-found species fits in the human evolutionary tree.
- SD
Maybe the interested student goes to geography to try to understand why H. floresiensis ended up only in Indonesia.
There was tremendous competition because this was back when race meant something since there were the Indonesian hobbits, Cro-Magnon (i.e. us), Neanderthals, Denisovans ... humans were all over the place. It seems it would behoove extra-tiny humans to find somewhere out of the way.
The exodus out of Africa was the flowering of the human race, in some respects, and scientists have devoted their lives to finding the details of how it worked. It was much more complex than marking the day for the Indy 500 and then all the humans headed North since there were multiple migrations and the exodus took thousands of years.
Note: Alonso will be in the Indy 500 this year and Yevette's TV now more or less works. He's been The Man for me in Formula One for years ever since such a deft pass at Monaco which was so brilliantly brave and so precisely executed.
My recent acquisition, "The Timeline of History," is comprehensive for a cross-reference of activity around the world at any given time and it's good ... but it doesn't go back fifty-four thousand years. Part of the interest in the casual observations from the Rockhouse now is to get an idea of the global timeline at, say, fifty-four thousand years ago. The hobbits were doing this but other humans were doing what?
Science Daily: Origins of Indonesian hobbits finally revealed
The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been widely believed.
The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed "the hobbits" due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis -- one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.
Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.
- SD
That notion makes them suddenly much more interesting to the Rockhouse since it means they were part of the general exodus from Africa rather than coming via some more convoluted path.
"The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor," Dr Argue said.
"It's possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere."
Homo floresiensis is known to have lived on Flores until as recently as 54,000 years ago.
The study was the result of an Australian Research Council grant in 2010 that enabled the researchers to explore where the newly-found species fits in the human evolutionary tree.
- SD
Maybe the interested student goes to geography to try to understand why H. floresiensis ended up only in Indonesia.
There was tremendous competition because this was back when race meant something since there were the Indonesian hobbits, Cro-Magnon (i.e. us), Neanderthals, Denisovans ... humans were all over the place. It seems it would behoove extra-tiny humans to find somewhere out of the way.
The exodus out of Africa was the flowering of the human race, in some respects, and scientists have devoted their lives to finding the details of how it worked. It was much more complex than marking the day for the Indy 500 and then all the humans headed North since there were multiple migrations and the exodus took thousands of years.
Note: Alonso will be in the Indy 500 this year and Yevette's TV now more or less works. He's been The Man for me in Formula One for years ever since such a deft pass at Monaco which was so brilliantly brave and so precisely executed.
My recent acquisition, "The Timeline of History," is comprehensive for a cross-reference of activity around the world at any given time and it's good ... but it doesn't go back fifty-four thousand years. Part of the interest in the casual observations from the Rockhouse now is to get an idea of the global timeline at, say, fifty-four thousand years ago. The hobbits were doing this but other humans were doing what?
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