Were 'Hobbits' a separate species ?

Posted on Saturday, 12 January, 2013 | Comment icon

11 comments | News tip by: Still Waters

Image credit: Ryan Somma

It is becoming more and more likely that Homo floresiensis was indeed a separate species of hominid.

Discovered ten years ago on the island of Flores in Indonesia, the 18,000-year-old bones of a woman and several other individuals with skulls a third of the size of modern humans have come to be named after Tolkein's pint-sized protagonists. There has been a great deal of debate over whether these individuals were our direct ancestors, but now it seems that the evidence is pointing towards Homo floresiensis being a distinct hominid species separate to Homo sapiens.

Hobbits are believed to have arrived in Indonesia up to 1 million years ago and went extinct only 17,000 years ago. Their wrists were not really shaped well enough to help them to grip objects or bear loads, and while their tools have been discovered by archaeologists it is thought that this anatomical disadvantage would have restricted their technical capabilities.

While film buffs have been arguing over the need to make The Hobbit into three different films, anthropologists have been busy debating the origins of real hobbits, whose remains were discovered in Indonesia only a decade ago.

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Source: Popular Science

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Recent comments on this story

#2 Posted by and then on 12 January, 2013, 2:50

[sup]He had an awesome imagination to be sure. He painted pictures with words and could sing about the pure love of honor also. He created a mankind into what we should be I think.[/sup]

#3 Posted by ashven on 12 January, 2013, 14:00

Tolkein was a very knowledgeable man which is why his stories read as though factual. Back to these Hobbits,maybe like neanderthal man they interbred with humans and disapeared

#4 Posted by DKO on 13 January, 2013, 3:48

I remember hearing theories that the Pygmy Aborigines of Northern Queensland descended from these hobbits. I think I read that on ATS though...

#5 Posted by coolguy on 13 January, 2013, 4:51

This is a cool find.this is the frist i. Have hread of this they could be there own spices.

#6 Posted by Majikwayz on 13 January, 2013, 12:28

haha...i just saw the Hobbit last night...perfect timing for this article. the movie was good btw.

#7 Posted by Tsa-La-Gie Oyate on 14 January, 2013, 6:07

Not sure if Hobbits ever existed, other than fairy tales and myths of "Little people" are likely based on miniature-sized adults who do exist under 4.6 feet tall. But the difference is a "race" of smaller-height humans with other distinct features: the Hobbits have more body hair including some grew on their large feet. And not only lived in a distant island of Indonesia, this race of little people are reported worldwide, further adds up to the mystery of their past existence.

#8 Posted by BNDGK on 8 February, 2013, 16:59

Wow! I've been waiting for this for so long! Finally! I mean Tolkien actually recorded the facts about these people. The lineage, the differences in the families! Very precise with his writing.

#9 Posted by Abramelin on 8 February, 2013, 17:21

It's interesting that in Indonesia these little people were called "Ebu Gogo" and in Africa "Agogwe".

#10 Posted by sewampi on 20 March, 2013, 16:22

Folktales from the Indonesian island of Flores tell of a mysterious race of little people called the "Ebu Gogo," who abducted children and spoke in murmurs. Scientists began to take the myths more seriously when in 2003, the remains of a new humanoid species called was discovered in caves on the island. Fossil dating suggests that H. floresiensis may have lived alongside modern humans as recently as 12,000 years ago. However, since the discovery whether the specimen was a human with an abnormally small head or represents a new species in the human family tree. The diminutive cre... [More]

#11 Posted by Collateral Damage on 20 March, 2013, 20:27

Size of the brain is mainly important if equivalent to the body, right? So they were short with small brains. Does this mean they might of had some kind of intelligence?

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