Post by Willow on Jun 9, 2016 9:09:16 GMT 9.5
Flores hobbit ancestors likely ‘castaways’: Australian researchers
Australian scientists think they have found the ancestors of the Flores “hobbits” after digging up 700,000-year-old human bones on the Indonesian island.
An international research team believes the fossils, more than 10 times as old as the first “hobbit” remains unearthed 13 years ago, come from the same extinct lineage of early humans.
The discoveries, revealed in two papers in the journal Nature, suggest a stunted side branch of Homo erectus was marooned near Australia’s north about a million years ago, maybe for long enough to mingle with modern humans.
Griffith University archeologist Adam Brumm, lead author of one of the papers, said “freak events” such as tidal waves had probably dispersed the creatures in island-hopping escapades across some of the world’s deepest waters.
“This small group of hapless castaways, clinging to floating tsunami debris, washed up on the shores of this distant island and then the population took root. It sounds far-fetched, but it’s the most plausible theory at this stage,” he said.
University of Wollongong archeologist Gert van dan Bergh, lead author of the other paper, said the bones were remarkably similar to the original hobbit remains found 70km to the west. Both sets came from midget humans about 1m tall.
The fossils, including a jawbone and some teeth, came from at least three individuals. They were found with simple tools and the remains of giant rats and pygmy elephants.
Dr Brumm said that while the team had only found a handful of fossils so far, it was very confident about their significance. The bones were sandwiched between layers of volcanic ash and dated using three different methods.
The analysis was conducted by noted Japanese palaeontologist Yousuke Kaifu, who has studied early human fossils all over the world.
“The anatomical features preserved on these fossils still tell a big story,” Dr Brumm said.
Evolution had probably caused the hobbits to shrink when they found themselves stranded on an island with little food and no big predators, the first known case of “island dwarfism” in a primate species. “It seems to be the first time we’ve found evidence for our human family being exposed to the evolutionary processes that caused elephants to shrink when they reached these islands.”
In a separate study also published this morning, CT scanning by American researchers has ruled out controversial claims that one of the hobbits was a modern human with Down syndrome.
Australian scientists think they have found the ancestors of the Flores “hobbits” after digging up 700,000-year-old human bones on the Indonesian island.
An international research team believes the fossils, more than 10 times as old as the first “hobbit” remains unearthed 13 years ago, come from the same extinct lineage of early humans.
The discoveries, revealed in two papers in the journal Nature, suggest a stunted side branch of Homo erectus was marooned near Australia’s north about a million years ago, maybe for long enough to mingle with modern humans.
Griffith University archeologist Adam Brumm, lead author of one of the papers, said “freak events” such as tidal waves had probably dispersed the creatures in island-hopping escapades across some of the world’s deepest waters.
“This small group of hapless castaways, clinging to floating tsunami debris, washed up on the shores of this distant island and then the population took root. It sounds far-fetched, but it’s the most plausible theory at this stage,” he said.
University of Wollongong archeologist Gert van dan Bergh, lead author of the other paper, said the bones were remarkably similar to the original hobbit remains found 70km to the west. Both sets came from midget humans about 1m tall.
The fossils, including a jawbone and some teeth, came from at least three individuals. They were found with simple tools and the remains of giant rats and pygmy elephants.
Dr Brumm said that while the team had only found a handful of fossils so far, it was very confident about their significance. The bones were sandwiched between layers of volcanic ash and dated using three different methods.
The analysis was conducted by noted Japanese palaeontologist Yousuke Kaifu, who has studied early human fossils all over the world.
“The anatomical features preserved on these fossils still tell a big story,” Dr Brumm said.
Evolution had probably caused the hobbits to shrink when they found themselves stranded on an island with little food and no big predators, the first known case of “island dwarfism” in a primate species. “It seems to be the first time we’ve found evidence for our human family being exposed to the evolutionary processes that caused elephants to shrink when they reached these islands.”
In a separate study also published this morning, CT scanning by American researchers has ruled out controversial claims that one of the hobbits was a modern human with Down syndrome.