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June 21, 2006
Homo floresiensis(?): Another Take
Karl Zimmer at The Loom reports on another study of the remains from Flores Island. Gary D. Richards writing in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology Online says that the remains are those of pygmy humans. Below is Zimmer's summary of Richard's explanation of how they became both small in stature and even smaller brained.
From this review, Richards offers up this scenario: tall, large-brained humans come to Flores. They settle there and become isolated from other people. As on many islands, they acquire mutations that make them very short. These mutations also lead to other changes in their skeletons. Other mutations also crop up in the people of Flores, including at least one that alters their brains. Because the population is small and inbred, these mutations become common. Not all of the Floresians may have been quite so small-brained, but a significant fraction of them were. The effect of these mutations on the mental abilities of Floresians wasn't catastrophic. They were still able to make stone tools and find food and survive. In fact, having a small brain may have actually been an advantage in some ways. Our brains demand 20% of the calories in our food. A smaller brain would demand less food--a potential boon on an island with limited resources.
As Zimmer points out, one of the big problems is explaining how modern humans got to Flores Island 100,000 years ago. There will certainly be much more discussion as more studies are published.
Take a look at Zimmer's whole post. If you look at the update to Zimmer's post, you will see that the controversy over this paper has already begun. I see that afarensis has a post on this also. Not much content yet but I'm sure he will have some good stuff for us very soon. Can John Hawks be far behind?
Posted by Duane Smith at June 21, 2006 8:50 PM | Read more on Paleoanthropology |
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