Kate Wong, Scientific American's excellent paleo reporter has a two-parter on the latest dish on Homo floresiensis a k a the Hobbit. No cymbal crashes, I'm afraid, but interesting nonetheless.
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Finally: more bones.
Last October the world marveled at the announcement of the discovery of a new species of hominid, Homo floresiensis, in a cave called Liang Bua on the Indonesian island of Flores. One conclusion was more shocking than the next. First, this hominid stood only three feet high,…
It's been a little over a year and a half now since scientists announced the disocvery of the most controversial fossil in the field of human origins: Homo floresiensis a k a the Hobbit. Scientists found bones of a dimunitive hominid on the Indonesian island of Flores, and estimated that it lived…
Well, here's an idea I haven't heard of before...
Last year scientists found the bones of what they recognized as a new species of hominid that lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. They named it Homo floresiensis, and its three foot stature earned it the nickname the Hobbit. All of the…
It's been twenty months now since scientists reported discovering fossils on the Indonesian island of Flores belonging to a three-foot-tall hominid with a brain the size of a chimp that lived recently as 12,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis, as this hominid was dubbed, has inspired two clashing…
Pretty good point about the parsimoniousness of the microcephaly explanation. Even if there's reason to doubt it (as outlined in part 2), the idea that LB1 is some form of diseased individual still seems like the simplest explanation for the evidence at hand. My imagination, of course, much prefers the hobbit thesis.
I'm wondering what effect microcephaly would have on the survivability/longevity of an individual in a paleolithic society. My understanding is that LB1 was thought to be 30.
Could the smaller than expected brain size simply be a function of limited availability of food and a lack of predators/competition selecting for a less energy-sapping brain?