'Hobbit' may be new species
2005-03-04 12:08
Washington - A partial skeleton of a one-metre-tall hominid discovered in an Indonesian cave and nicknamed "the Hobbit" is probably a new, dwarf species of human, said a study out on Thursday.
A team of scientists reached the conclusion after analysing the skull of the estimated 18 000 year-old skeleton, one of several unearthed two years ago on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores.
Although their conclusion is debated by some scientists, the skeleton, probably of a mature woman, was given the scientific species name Homo floresiensis, after the island.
Scientists nicknamed the skeleton "the Hobbit" after the diminutive title character of a book by fantasy writer JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings.
Scientists from the United States, Australia and Indonesia compared the skull to those of humans, chimpanzees and other human ancestors to determine whether it was simply a pygmy form of human, a person whose growth was stunted by a growth disorder, or an entirely new species.
Their conclusions were released on Thursday on Science Express, the online edition of the US journal Science.
Doubts remain
After creating a detailed three-dimensional model of the skull using computer tomography, the scientists reconstructed the likely features of the Hobbit's brain, and then compared them with other hominid brains and skulls.
According to the report, impressions the woman's brain left on the skull gave strong indications that the skeletons were human.
"It was a surprise because the brain was so small that we thought it would resemble a chimp's, but instead it was more like that of bigger creatures," said Dean Falk, lead author of the study.
Moreover, comparisons with pygmy skulls, and with the skulls of humans who had suffered the brain growth-stunting affliction microcephaly, revealed few similarities, leading scientists to conclude it was a new species.
"The brain is unique," said Australian anthropologist Mike Morwood. "This human species was capable of quite complex behaviors. We know that these little humans were doing things like hunting (and) making sophisticated tools."
However, some scientists, including a leading Indonesian anthropologist, contest the study's conclusions and argue that the Hobbit belongs to the Homo sapiens species.
The Hobbit was one of seven skeletons, which scientists date in a range of 95 000 to 12 000 years ago, dug up in different layers of earth in the Flores cave.