An international group of scientists from Japan, Indonesia, the United States and other countries has clarified the growth of Homo floresiensis, a very small human relative that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores about 700,000 years ago. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature Communications (NatComms).
This hominin species (the family of primates that includes humans and great apes) is known to be a branch of Homo erectus, or Homo erectus. Homo erectus existed between 2 million and 250 thousand years ago.
Homo floresiensis are also referred to as “hobbits” after the fictional race of hobbits in the fantasy works of English author John Tolkien. Like Tolkien’s hobbits, Homo floresiensis were about half the size of modern humans. Until recently, their average height was believed to be around three feet (1 metre).
In the new study, researchers analyzed the fossilized remains of “hobbits” from Flores, including teeth and part of an arm bone. Calculations showed that Homo floresiensis was six centimeters shorter than previous estimates.
The team found that Homo floresiensis’ small body size evolved during the first 300,000 years of their life on the island, and then continued for more than 600,000 years. It’s still unclear why this happened, but the trend could be the result of natural selection. The scientists say elephants living on the islands sometimes became smaller over time.
Previous researchers refuted Theory regarding the extinction of Neanderthals.