On island, scientists unearth modern humans' tiny cousin
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | October 28, 2004
Scientists have unearthed a new species of hobbit-sized humans that may have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago, sharing the earth alongside modern-day man.
The discovery of a skull, bones, and teeth from these Lilliputians on the Indonesian island of Flores, reported in the journal Nature today, paints a far more complex picture of late human evolution, one that counters a long-held belief that Homo sapiens has been alone on the planet for tens of thousands of years.
The 3-foot tall people with grapefruit-sized skulls -- dubbed "Flores Man" -- were apparently able to make stone tools, ignite fires, and organize hunts of young pygmy elephants, based on the charred bones and animal remains found at a cave site called Liang Bua.
Their isolated island, also home to giant lizards and rats, appears to have molded the species in the same way that other island mammals develop into dwarfs or giants, based on what would be advantageous to avoid predators or to gather food.
While legends in Indonesia have long talked about dwarf-sized creatures called "little people," there has never been scientific evidence that they existed.
"When I saw this paper I thought it was a big elaborate hoax -- and it wasn't," said Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, who critiqued the paper before it was published. "We are in a very odd time in human history in that we are the only species of humans on the planet now."
Researchers from Australia and Indonesia first discovered the remains of a near-complete female skeleton dating back 18,000 years in a limestone cave on the eastern Indonesian island last year. Since then, they have unearthed bones and teeth of about five to six others dating from 12,000 to 95,000 years ago.
The bones were not fossilized; they had the consistency of "mashed potatoes," researchers said. They believe the species may have been wiped out, along with the tiny elephants, by a volcanic eruption.
"It's rare, extremely rare, to find a hitherto unknown species of human living in the recent geological past," said Bert Roberts of the University of Wollongong in Australia, one of the paper's authors.
The Flores Man is believed to be a descendant of Homo erectus, an African large-brained human ancestor that spread from Africa to Asia about 2 million years ago. Scientists hypothesize the species became isolated on Flores some time in the past few hundred thousand years and evolved into smaller stature. Such evolutionary responses occur on islands, creating animals much smaller or larger than ancestors to adapt to specific conditions.
"I nearly dropped to my knees at one point examining the specimen," said Peter Brown, one of the paper's lead authors and a paleoanthropologist at the University of New England in Australia.
But even more startling, scientists say, is that these dwarfs lived at the same time as homo sapiens. Many scientists believe modern humans originated in Africa about 160,000 years ago, reaching Indonesia about 40,000 years ago.
It is unknown if the two species interacted in any way, or even if either knew the other existed. Scientists' only record of modern man in Flores is after the volcano erupted. However, the two species apparently overlapped in the same part of the world for at least around 20,000 years, the authors of the study estimated.
"These [little people] are sort of like WordPerfect 1.2 and then you don't bother to find out if there are any upgrades," said Bernard Wood, Henry Luce professor of human origins at George Washington University, who is not connected to the study. "You forget what the rest of the world is doing. If you take one of these creatures and put them in a slightly different environment, they change. What is extraordinary is how [flexible] evolution is."
There remain many unanswered questions about the dwarfs. Scientists don't know if the Flores Man was relatively short-lived species in evolutionary terms or survived for a very long time. Scientists say evidence now places the species back about 95,000 years, but it might extend up to eight times longer ago than that.
Most scientists contacted said yesterday they were deeply excited that there might be other modern-day "twigs" of failed human evolutionary branches elsewhere in the world. The authors of the paper are stepping up research on Flores and other nearby islands.
"You don't know until you find them," said Tim White, a paleobiologist at the University of California Berkeley. He said the research does underscore an important point in evolution: "We are not the goal, but one product of the evolutionary process. What they found on Flores is another product."
Here is Official picture.
Hehehehe.I am laughing.I am so proud of myself.
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | October 28, 2004
Scientists have unearthed a new species of hobbit-sized humans that may have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago, sharing the earth alongside modern-day man.
The discovery of a skull, bones, and teeth from these Lilliputians on the Indonesian island of Flores, reported in the journal Nature today, paints a far more complex picture of late human evolution, one that counters a long-held belief that Homo sapiens has been alone on the planet for tens of thousands of years.
The 3-foot tall people with grapefruit-sized skulls -- dubbed "Flores Man" -- were apparently able to make stone tools, ignite fires, and organize hunts of young pygmy elephants, based on the charred bones and animal remains found at a cave site called Liang Bua.
Their isolated island, also home to giant lizards and rats, appears to have molded the species in the same way that other island mammals develop into dwarfs or giants, based on what would be advantageous to avoid predators or to gather food.
While legends in Indonesia have long talked about dwarf-sized creatures called "little people," there has never been scientific evidence that they existed.
"When I saw this paper I thought it was a big elaborate hoax -- and it wasn't," said Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, who critiqued the paper before it was published. "We are in a very odd time in human history in that we are the only species of humans on the planet now."
Researchers from Australia and Indonesia first discovered the remains of a near-complete female skeleton dating back 18,000 years in a limestone cave on the eastern Indonesian island last year. Since then, they have unearthed bones and teeth of about five to six others dating from 12,000 to 95,000 years ago.
The bones were not fossilized; they had the consistency of "mashed potatoes," researchers said. They believe the species may have been wiped out, along with the tiny elephants, by a volcanic eruption.
"It's rare, extremely rare, to find a hitherto unknown species of human living in the recent geological past," said Bert Roberts of the University of Wollongong in Australia, one of the paper's authors.
The Flores Man is believed to be a descendant of Homo erectus, an African large-brained human ancestor that spread from Africa to Asia about 2 million years ago. Scientists hypothesize the species became isolated on Flores some time in the past few hundred thousand years and evolved into smaller stature. Such evolutionary responses occur on islands, creating animals much smaller or larger than ancestors to adapt to specific conditions.
"I nearly dropped to my knees at one point examining the specimen," said Peter Brown, one of the paper's lead authors and a paleoanthropologist at the University of New England in Australia.
But even more startling, scientists say, is that these dwarfs lived at the same time as homo sapiens. Many scientists believe modern humans originated in Africa about 160,000 years ago, reaching Indonesia about 40,000 years ago.
It is unknown if the two species interacted in any way, or even if either knew the other existed. Scientists' only record of modern man in Flores is after the volcano erupted. However, the two species apparently overlapped in the same part of the world for at least around 20,000 years, the authors of the study estimated.
"These [little people] are sort of like WordPerfect 1.2 and then you don't bother to find out if there are any upgrades," said Bernard Wood, Henry Luce professor of human origins at George Washington University, who is not connected to the study. "You forget what the rest of the world is doing. If you take one of these creatures and put them in a slightly different environment, they change. What is extraordinary is how [flexible] evolution is."
There remain many unanswered questions about the dwarfs. Scientists don't know if the Flores Man was relatively short-lived species in evolutionary terms or survived for a very long time. Scientists say evidence now places the species back about 95,000 years, but it might extend up to eight times longer ago than that.
Most scientists contacted said yesterday they were deeply excited that there might be other modern-day "twigs" of failed human evolutionary branches elsewhere in the world. The authors of the paper are stepping up research on Flores and other nearby islands.
"You don't know until you find them," said Tim White, a paleobiologist at the University of California Berkeley. He said the research does underscore an important point in evolution: "We are not the goal, but one product of the evolutionary process. What they found on Flores is another product."
Here is Official picture.
Hehehehe.I am laughing.I am so proud of myself.
