Palaeontology

Were the 'hobbits' wiped out by modern man ?

By T.K. Randall
March 30, 2016

Image: Homo Floresiensis Cave
Credit: Rosino / CC BY-SA 2.0 (adapted) Evidence of the mysterious 'hobbits' of Flores, an island in Indonesia, was first unearthed in a cave back in 2003 - a discovery that would go on to become the topic of much controversy and debate.

Now scientists from Lakehead University in Ontario have revealed that Homo floresiensis may have disappeared from the island far earlier than previously suggested - pushing their extinction back from 12,000 years ago to around 50,000 years ago.

"At the time of the initial discovery, not enough of the older deposits had been exposed, and this led to an error in the interpretation of how the dates obtained at that time applied to the sediments that contained the hobbit remains," said study co-author Matthew Tocheri.These revised dates mean that Homo floresiensis would have disappeared at around the same time as modern humans arrived on the scene - something that could be more than just a coincidence.

"There is this pattern where ancient kinds of Homo that have been doing perfectly well for a very long time disappear as soon as Homo sapiens shows up," said paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall.

"For one reason or another, Homo sapiens is an insuperable competitor."

Source: National Geographic

Tags: Hobbit, Homo floresiensis