http://www.nature.com/news/specials/flores/index.html FLORES MAN It sounds too incredible to be true, but this is not a hoax. A species of tiny human has been discovered, which lived on the remote Indonesian island of Flores just 18,000 years ago. Researchers have so far unearthed remains from eight individuals who were just one metre tall, with grapefruit-sized skulls. These astonishing little people, nicknamed 'hobbits', made tools, hunted tiny elephants and lived at the same time as modern humans who were colonizing the area. [EMAIL PROTECTED] tells the story of a find that changes the world of palaeoanthropology, and challenges our perception of what it means to be human. Nature Published online: 27 October 2004; | doi:10.1038/4311029a Little lady of Flores forces rethink of human evolution Rex Dalton Dwarf hominid lived in Indonesia just 18,000 years ago. A new human-like species - a dwarfed relative who lived just 18,000 years ago in the company of pygmy elephants and giant lizards - has been discovered in Indonesia. Skeletal remains show that the hominins, nicknamed 'hobbits' by some of their discoverers, were only one metre tall, had a brain one-third the size of that of modern humans, and lived on an isolated island long after Homo sapiens had migrated through the South Pacific region. "My jaw dropped to my knees," says Peter Brown, one of the lead authors and a palaeoanthropologist at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. The find has excited researchers with its implications - if unexpected branches of humanity are still being found today, and lived so recently, then who knows what else might be out there? The species' diminutive stature indicates that humans are subject to the same evolutionary forces that made other mammals shrink to dwarf size when in genetic isolation and under ecological pressure, such as on an island with limited resources. The new species, reported this week in Nature1,2, was found by Australian and Indonesian scientists in a rock shelter called Liang Bua on the island of Flores. The team unearthed a near-complete skeleton, thought to be a female, including the skull, jaw and most teeth, along with bones and teeth from at least seven other individuals. In the same site they also found bones from Komodo dragons and an extinct pygmy elephant called Stegodon. The hominin bones were not fossilized, but in a condition the team described as being like "mashed potatoes", a result of their age and the damp conditions. "The skeleton had the consistency of wet blotting paper, so a less experienced excavator might have trashed the find," says Richard Roberts of the University of Wollongong, Australia. "Only the Indonesians were present at the actual moment of discovery - the Australian contingent had departed back to Oz," says Roberts. He credits Thomas Sutikna of the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology in Jakarta for the excellent handling of the samples. The success has inspired national pride at the centre, the researchers say. "This is very important for Indonesian society," says co-author R. P. Soejono. The discovery is prompting increased scrutiny of sites on other Southeast Asian islands, both to look for more of the same species and to place it in context with Homo sapiens and Homo erectus, our closest relative. Homo erectus was found to have lived on the nearby island of Java as long as 1.6 million years ago; the team suggests that the Flores hominins may be their descendants. Dating more bones could help determine whether the species was a short-lived branch of human evolution or survived for longer. Preliminary dating places it at about 70,000 years ago, but it may extend back 800,000 years. "We were hoping we might find a little hominin from that early," says author Michael Morwood, an archaeologist at the University of New England. In the meantime, researchers are hoping to find DNA in the bones, which would help to clarify the relationships between species. DNA has previously been extracted from European Neanderthals living in the same time period. But they have so far failed to find DNA in the teeth of the Stegodon found in the same cave, says Brown. Additional reporting by Michael Hopkin. References 1. Brown P., et al. Nature, 431. 1055 - 1061 (2004). | Article | 2. Morwood M. J., et al. Nature, 431. 1087 - 1091(2004). | Article | Published online: 27 October 2004; | doi:10.1038/news041025-2 [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Flores, God and Cryptozoology Henry Gee The discovery of Homo floresiensis raises hopes for yeti hunters and, says Henry Gee, poses thorny questions about the uniqueness of Homo sapiens. When the first human colonists arrived on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia a few thousand years ago, they had no idea that they were treading on the remains of a lost world. Until around 12,000 years ago, when a volcanic eruption seems to have ended the party, Flores was a looking-glass garden of Komodo dragons and even larger lizards, giant tortoises and enormous rats. Alongside them were tiny, primitive elephants and, as we now know, tiny, primitive people1,2. Probably descended from full-sized Homo erectus that made landfall on Flores as much as 900,000 years ago3, the islanders dodged the dragons and hunted the elephants. Killers and quarry became smaller with each generation, instances of the well-known phenomenon of endemic dwarfing in small, inbred island populations, until they were transformed into new species. Homo erectus became Homo floresiensis. These people, each a metre tall as an adult, lived on Flores from at least 38,000 years ago to 18,000 years ago2. But fossilization is a chancy business, so it is likely that they were there long before that interval... and long after it. They may have been alive when modern Homo sapiens arrived in the region. Yet as far as we know, Homo floresiensis survived for thousands of years, unnoticed and unmolested by humans, before becoming extinct. Florid tales The discovery that Homo floresiensis survived until so very recently, in geological terms, makes it more likely that stories of other mythical, human-like creatures such as yetis are founded on grains of truth. In the light of the Flores skeleton, a recent initiative4 to scour central Sumatra for 'orang pendek' can be viewed in a more serious light. This small, hairy, manlike creature has hitherto been known only from Malay folklore, a debatable strand of hair and a footprint. Now, cryptozoology, the study of such fabulous creatures, can come in from the cold. Another argument in favour of such searches comes from the recent discovery of several new species of large mammal, notably in Southeast Asia. For example, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis5, a species of ox from the remote Vu Qiang nature reserve on the border between Vietnam and Laos, was first described from hunting trophies in only 1992. Another species of bovid, the kouprey (Bos sauveli), was discovered in Indochina in 1937. Neither of these creatures is as exotic as a yeti or orang pendek, but the point is made. If animals as large as oxen can remain hidden into an era when we would expect that scientists had rustled every tree and bush in search of new forms of life, there is no reason why the same should not apply to new species of large primate, including members of the human family. Cryptic clues The discoverers of Homo floresiensis suggest that their find could be the first of many, and that other species of recently extinct humans might be discovered on other isolated islands. But whether other recently extinct (or extant) hominid species are found or not, the fact that even one distinct species of human was found to have lived alongside modern man not only enriches our understanding of recent human diversity; it could change our view of ourselves in a fundamental way. As far as we know, Homo sapiens is the only species of human that yet lives on the planet. It is very easy to take this solitary estate (and our consequent separateness from the rest of the animal world) for granted, so much has it become ingrained in our philosophy, ethics and religion, even our science. Until very recently, evolutionary thought was couched in terms of a linear, progressive trajectory rising from lower life forms and culminating in man. I have argued elsewhere that this view is not, regrettably, as extinct as it should be6. In palaeoanthropology, this idea is seen in the view that only one species of hominid has existed at any one time, each one succeeding the next in a scheme of orderly replacement. This idea began to crumble in the 1970s7, since when discoveries of ancient relatives of humans have revealed a marked diversity of form. Human evolution is like a bush, not a ladder8. But these discoveries concerned the more remote reaches of human ancestry. Despite the fact that some of our relatives, such as Neanderthal man and Homo erectus, are thought to have become extinct in relatively recent times9, our complacency that this view holds for recent history has not been shaken. Until now. If it turns out that the diversity of human beings was always high, remained high until very recently and might not be entirely extinguished, we are entitled to question the security of some of our deepest beliefs. Will the real image of God please stand up? References 1. Brown P., et al. Nature, 431. 1055 - 1061 (2004). | Article | 2. Morwood M. J., et al. Nature, 431. 1087 - 1091(2004). | Article | 3. Morwood M. J., et al. Nature, 392. 173 - 176 (1998). | Article | ISI | ChemPort | 4. Green D., Tracking down the 'jungle yeti' 5. Dung V. V., et al. Nature, 363. 443 - 445 (1993). | Article | ISI | 6. Gee H., et al. Nature, 420. 611 (2002). | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort | 7. Leakey R. E. F. & Walker C. Nature, 261. 572 - 574 (1976). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort | 8. Wood B., et al. Nature, 418. 133 - 135 (2002). | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort | 9. Swisher III C. C., et al. Science, 274. 1870 - 1874 (1996). | Article | PubMed | Published online: 27 October 2004; | doi:10.1038/news041025-4 The Flores find Michael Hopkin For the archaeologists who unearthed and studied the Flores skeleton, the discovery is a potentially career-defining event. So how did they greet the find, and has it changed their ideas about human evolution? [EMAIL PROTECTED] asked Peter Brown, who led the analysis, and Mike Morwood, who directed the dig, for their reflections. What was your initial reaction to the finding? Peter Brown: In early September 2003 Mike Morwood brought the cast of a tooth to my laboratory. It had been recovered from the excavations at Liang Bua. I realized that while it was broadly human it could not have been from a modern human, so it was exciting. More exciting was when Mike announced that the continuing excavations had uncovered a fairly complete skeleton. We quickly arranged to go to Jakarta. Mike Morwood: The feeling was one of tremendous excitment. We had previously recovered a few very unusual hominid bones and teeth from the Pleistocene levels of Liang Bua, but now we had a major part of a skeleton, including the skull. How quickly did you realize its importance? MM: We knew straight away that the finding was important, but because of the size of the skull we initially thought that the individual was a young child. This view changed when [team member] Rokus Awe Due examined the teeth, which were very worn. Later detailed forensic analysis by Peter Brown indicated that she was an adult female aged about 30. PB: Within a second of seeing the skull and mandible I realized it was important. Mike and Thomas Sutikna (the archaeologist primarily responsible for the day-to-day running of the excavation) report that when I measured the skull's approximate brain size I was clearly in shock. I knew this was the skeleton of a biped, but it had the brain size of a chimpanzee and was alive perhaps as rec ently as 14,000 years ago. It seemed impossible. Still does! What had you been hoping to find when you began the dig? MM: We were hoping to find evidence for the initial arrival of modern humans on the island, and possibly the preceding hominid species - sites further east in the Soa Basin of central Flores had previously shown that hominids were on the island by 840,000 years ago. So was Homo floresiensis completely out of the blue? PB: Yes. The only other hominins of this body and brain size date to the Pliocene epoch [between roughly 7 million and 2 million years ago] in Africa. However, they have very different facial skeletons and teeth to H. floresiensis (smaller teeth and a less projecting face). There are also no other examples of hominins dwarfing in the way that some other mammals often do on islands. We're still not certain that H. floresiensis dwarfed on Flores, as no larger-bodied ancestor has been found. Who made the actual discovery? PB: The discovery was made by the archaeological team directed by Mike and R. P. Soejono [of the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology in Jakarta]. At the time the excavation was being led by Thomas Sutikna, who also did a lot of the initial cleaning and conservation of the skeleton. My role was primarily in cleaning, reconstructing and conserving the skull and some other skeletal elements, and then recording and describing the skeleton. MM: The team was assisted by 35 local manggarai workers. Other researchers dated the finds, and analysed the associated faunal remains and stone artefacts. In fact, the input of specialists from many institutions and disciplines has been crucial to the success of our research. What's next for human palaeontology? Given its habit of throwing up surprises, is that a silly question? PB: Until the discovery at Liang Bua the broad pattern of human palaeontology was starting to look predictable - not such a bad thing for those of us who teach the subject. After this discovery, and perhaps an increased focus on island Southeast Asia, I predict a few major surprises ahead. Researchers will start to look a lot more closely at the isolated teeth and jaw fragments recovered from cave deposits on the Asian mainland. Some of these, previously thought to be the remains of a small ape, may turn out to be something else. MM: My own feeling is that future archaeological discoveries in Southeast Asia will show that human dispersal and cultural change were much more complex than previously believed, and that Asia may have played a much more prominent role in these issues than adherents of the simplistic 'Out of Africa' explanation for everything would have us believe. Does this change your own feelings about the uniqueness and modernity of Homo sapiens? PB: Yes and no. Although it was a member of our genus, H. floresiensis is unlikely to have contributed to the gene pool of H. sapiens. So for me, its importance is not in the evolutionary story of modern humans, but in how the broad group from which modern humans evolved may have adapted and evolved to different ecosystems. Prior to this finding it would not have been thought that a hominin with the brain size, and possibly limited cognitive ability, of H. floresiensis could make the type of tools associated with the skeleton, or even get to Flores at all. I suppose that this is what challenges existing notions of what it is to be human the most. Published online: 27 October 2004; | doi:10.1038/news041025-3 A stranger from Flores Chris Stringer When a new fossil is found it is often claimed that it will rewrite the anthropological textbooks. But in the case of an astonishing new discovery from Indonesia, this claim is fully justified. The conventional view of early human evolution is that the species Homo erectus was our first relative to spread out of Africa, some 2 million years ago. The spread that our cousin achieved is indicated by a 1.8-million-year-old, primitive form of H. erectus found at Dmanisi in Georgia, and by finds at slightly younger sites in China and the Indonesian island of Java. It was not thought that H. erectus travelled any farther towards Australia than this, because although early humans could have walked to Java from Southeast Asia at times of low sea level, the islands east of Java, always separated from it by deep water, seemed beyond their reach. However, six years ago a team of archaeologists, led by Australian Mike Morwood, published a paper claiming that a site on the island of Flores, 500 kilometres east of Java, contained stone tools dating from about 800,000 years ago1. Many researchers (myself included) doubted these claims, because if they were true they implied that H. erectus had moved beyond Java and might have used boats to do so. Such a development was thought to be unique to Homo sapiens. When I then heard rumours about the discovery of an early human skeleton in a cave on Flores, I was ready to be surprised. However, nothing could have prepared me for how big (or small) that surprise would be. Asian fusion The skeleton found at Liang Bua, a cave on Flores, is of an adult who was only about one metre tall with a brain size of only 380 cubic centimetres. That is less than one-third of the average brain size for a modern human and much smaller even than those of the primitive H. erectus skulls from Dmanisi. The Flores skull shows a unique mixture of primitive and advanced characteristics. The brain is the same size as a chimpanzee's, the brain-case is low with a prominent brow ridge at the front, and the lower jaw completely lacks a chin. However, as in modern humans, the face is small and delicate. It is tucked under the brain rather than thrust out in front and the teeth are similar in size to our own. The skeleton shows a similarly strange mixture of features. The hip-bone resembles those of the pre-human African species known as australopithecines (meaning 'southern apes'). But the legs are slight, and enough detail has been preserved to show that this creature definitely walked on two legs, as we do. Class act So what was this strange creature, and what was it doing on Flores? The authors of the two Nature papers2,3 about the discovery and its context have had to make difficult choices in deciding how to classify the creature, although it is clear that this person was definitely not a modern human. The small brain size and the hip-bone shape might favour classification as an australopithecine, whereas the size and shape of the skull might suggest a primitive form of H. erectus. Given the unique combination of features, the authors have decided to give the specimen a new name: Homo floresiensis. This means, literally, 'man of Flores', although the authors recognize that the Liang Bua skeleton is probably that of a woman. The researchers argue that this species made the tools found in the Liang Bua cave, and may have preyed on one of the few other mammals that had also managed to reach Flores: a tiny form of the extinct, elephant-like Stegodon. Of a certain age It seems that Flores man (or woman) still has one more surprise up its sleeve: its age. Astonishingly, two methods of dating agree in placing the skeleton at only about 18,000 years old. Its ancestors, probably a form of H. erectus, could have reached the island in the hunt for stegodons a million years ago, either by building some kind of boat or by walking across a short-lived land-bridge. Their resulting isolation and inbreeding may have led them to evolve a small body size, in a process known from other mammals as 'island dwarfing'. Because of climate change or the impact of modern humans, who began to spread from Africa around 100,000 years ago, the strange story of H. floresiensis eventually ended in extinction. But modern humans must surely have encountered this tiny relative of ours, and the discovery shows how much we still have to learn about the story of human evolution. Chris Stringer is a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. References 1. Morwood M. J., et al. Nature, 392. 173 - 176 (1998). | Article | ISI | ChemPort | 2. Brown P., et al. Nature, 431. 1055 - 1061 (2004). | Article | 3. Morwood M. J., et al. Nature, 431. 1087 - 1091(2004). | Article | ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! 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