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October 11, 2005
Hobbit (Homo floresiensis) Update
Newly discovered bones from Liang Bua on Flores Island may support the idea that the Hobbit is a new species. This from New Scientist,
The new finds include the right arm bones of LB1, plus a jawbone and several limb bones from others of the same species. “We now have evidence for at least nine individuals,” says Michael Morwood of the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia, who is head of the excavation team.Other unearthed items reveal aspects of the hobbits’ lifestyle, including sophisticated cutting tools and remains of stegodons, dwarf forerunners of modern elephants. The stegodon bones have cut marks on them, suggesting they had been butchered. Other animal bones and stones at the site were charred, suggesting the hobbits knew how to light fires.
“This type of complex behaviour probably required the ability to talk,” says Morwood. "But there is no evidence for burial of the dead, art, ornaments or other types of symbolic behaviour."
I'm not so sure that the ability to talk is necessarily indicated by this behavior. There are other ways to communicate. I did find this very interesting,
Morwood's team is itself moving away from the dwarfing theory. The hobbits have disproportionately long arms relative to their legs, and so cannot be scaled-down versions either of modern humans or Homo erectus, who have had the same body proportions for 1.6 million years.[snip]
“The combination of skeletal attributes that [the hobbits] share is not found in any modern human,” says team member Peter Brown. “The bones of the hands and feet don’t look like those of arboreal apes, but like everything else to do with Homo floresiensis, they are not like humans either.
This might indicate a completely new species but again, I'm not so sure that one can expect close scaling in island dwarfism. I'm just not sure.
Of course, the controversy will continue until more remains are found. Another skull or two would be helpful. But even that may not stop the debate.
Carl Zimmer has his usual good write up on the new finds and the controversy at the Loom and there is a detailed article in Nature but you need a subscription to read it.
Posted by Duane Smith at October 11, 2005 9:18 AM | Read more on Paleoanthropology |
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Comments
Interesting stuff!
Posted by: afarensis at October 12, 2005 5:44 PM
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