Mystery 'Hobbits' not Human, Study Says : DNews
Diminutive humans that died out on an Indonesian island some 15,000 years ago were not Homo sapiens, but a different species, according to a study published Monday that dives into a fierce anthropological debate.
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Paleo Platter: What Did Ancient Humans Really Eat?
Recent dietary fads, such as going paleo, suggest we should get back to eating the way we did before agriculture came along. But, as in much else in life, there are no easy or perfect answers when it comes to the foods we choose.
DCI
Fossils of Homo floresiensis — dubbed “the hobbits” due to their tiny stature — were discovered on the island of Flores in 2003.
Controversy has raged ever since as to whether they are an unknown branch of early humans or specimens of modern man deformed by disease.
Faces of Our Ancestors
The new study, based on an analysis of the skull bones, shows once and for all that the pint-sized people were not Homo sapiens, according to the researchers.
Until now, academic studies have pointing in one direction or another — and scientific discourse has sometimes tipped over into acrimony.
One school of thought holds that so-called Flores Man descended from the larger Homo erectus and became smaller over hundreds of generations.
More at site
Diminutive humans that died out on an Indonesian island some 15,000 years ago were not Homo sapiens, but a different species, according to a study published Monday that dives into a fierce anthropological debate.
Play VideoPaleo Platter: What Did Ancient Humans Really Eat?
Recent dietary fads, such as going paleo, suggest we should get back to eating the way we did before agriculture came along. But, as in much else in life, there are no easy or perfect answers when it comes to the foods we choose.
DCI
Fossils of Homo floresiensis — dubbed “the hobbits” due to their tiny stature — were discovered on the island of Flores in 2003.
Controversy has raged ever since as to whether they are an unknown branch of early humans or specimens of modern man deformed by disease.
Faces of Our Ancestors
The new study, based on an analysis of the skull bones, shows once and for all that the pint-sized people were not Homo sapiens, according to the researchers.
Until now, academic studies have pointing in one direction or another — and scientific discourse has sometimes tipped over into acrimony.
One school of thought holds that so-called Flores Man descended from the larger Homo erectus and became smaller over hundreds of generations.
More at site
