Dwarf Human Fossils! The recently discovered "Hobbit"
fossils may completely change how scientists view
human evolution. Last October, a team of Australian
and Indonesian archeologists discovered the 18,000
year old bones of a female hobbit, a new human
species, in the island of Flores. Experts assume that
the isolated island in Indonesia, was colonized by
humans as early as 800,000 B.C.E. However, from at
least 95,000 years ago until around 12,000 years ago,
it was occupied by these tiny humans, which grew to be
only three feet (about a meter) tall - prompting
scientists to name them "hobbits" after J.R. Tolkiens'
Lord of the Rings.
Despite having brains the size of a chimpanzee's (as
big as a ripe grapefruit), these little humans hunted
animals twice their size, hunted and butchered with
stone tools, and cooked with fire. The discovery has
turned our understanding of human evolution upside
down. For a long time, scientists had assumed that
human evolution was directly proportional to the
increases in brain size. The shocking discovery has
made many scientists question these assumptions, and
some are convinced that the "organization" of the
brain must have been at least as important as the
increases in brain size - if not more important.
Although much smaller than in modern humans, the
hobbit's frontal lobe contains a region known as
Brodmann's Area 10, which in modern humans, is
associated with cognitive processes, such as planning
ahead and taking initiative. In comparison to Homo
Erectus, the Hobbit has larger temporal lobes, which
are associated with better hearing and understanding
speech.
Scientists have long believed that the Neanderthals
went extinct about 30,000 years ago, and that the Homo
Sapiens was the only human species left on the planet.
The discovery that another quite different, and much
smaller, human species existed as late as 13, 000
years ago is shocking. According to the team of
archaeologists that found the hobbit fossils, the
hobbits' small stature was the result of a phenomenon
known as "island dwarfing". Over thousands of years,
the theory goes, their bodies adapted to the
constraints of island living in the same way that many
other mammals, such as the dwarf elephants found on
the island Cyprus. When there is a significant
shortage in the food supply, animals tend to adjust to
the new circumstances by reducing their body sizes so
that they can survive on less food and energy. Another
possibility is that the Hobbits may have been tiny
prior to their arrival to the island of Flores. They
may have belonged to an unknown species of humans that
left Africa about 1.8 million years ago.
In either case, the discovery of tiny humans
comparably as clever as modern humans, hints at the
possibility that the legends of giant humans, such as
the famous Golliath, may have some truth in them. If,
in the past, dwarf humans existed, then, there is no
reason to assume that giants could not have existed
either.
Mario Gagho
Agra University
www.ppi-india.org
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A WINNER works harder than a loser and has more time.
A LOSER is always "too busy" to do what is necessary.
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