Post by anakvr on Jun 1, 2006 13:48:10 GMT -5
'Hobbit' hominids trigger giant row
June 02, 2006
Agence France-Presse
PARIS -- Anthropologists have traded new blows over the remains of dwarf humans whose discovery on a remote Indonesian island blasted a hole in theories about the Ascent of Man.
Dubbed "hobbits" after the wee folk of J.R.R. Tolkien's tale, the hominids, discovered in 2003, measured only about a meter (3.25feet) tall and had a skull about the size of a grapefruit.
The bones of at least nine individuals were found in a cave in the island of Flores, lying in sediments carbon-dated to around 18,000 years old. Near these remains were sophisticated stone tools and butchered animals, including a now-extinct miniature elephant.
Their discoverers claim the hominid, which they have honored as Homo floresiensis, was a separate species of human who descended from Homo erectus, which is also the ancestor of modern man.
That assertion ignited a fierce row.
If true, it would mean that Homo sapiens, who has been around for 150,000-200,000 years, would have shared the planet with rival humans far more recently than anyone had thought.
And it would raise the vexing question as to whether H. sapiens and H. floresiensis interbred, which would presumably have left "hobbit" genes in our genetic code today.
In the past months, the scientific journals have blazed with debate. The exchange has sometimes seethed with barbed accusations about denial of access to the Liang Bua cave and to the now-famous fossils themselves.
Three weeks ago, primatologists led by Robert Martin of the highly regarded Field Museum in Chicago savaged the Flores claims as "media hype" and -- the thermonuclear insult in anthropology -- as bad science.
full story at news.inq7.net/world/index.php?index=1&story_id=77768
June 02, 2006
Agence France-Presse
PARIS -- Anthropologists have traded new blows over the remains of dwarf humans whose discovery on a remote Indonesian island blasted a hole in theories about the Ascent of Man.
Dubbed "hobbits" after the wee folk of J.R.R. Tolkien's tale, the hominids, discovered in 2003, measured only about a meter (3.25feet) tall and had a skull about the size of a grapefruit.
The bones of at least nine individuals were found in a cave in the island of Flores, lying in sediments carbon-dated to around 18,000 years old. Near these remains were sophisticated stone tools and butchered animals, including a now-extinct miniature elephant.
Their discoverers claim the hominid, which they have honored as Homo floresiensis, was a separate species of human who descended from Homo erectus, which is also the ancestor of modern man.
That assertion ignited a fierce row.
If true, it would mean that Homo sapiens, who has been around for 150,000-200,000 years, would have shared the planet with rival humans far more recently than anyone had thought.
And it would raise the vexing question as to whether H. sapiens and H. floresiensis interbred, which would presumably have left "hobbit" genes in our genetic code today.
In the past months, the scientific journals have blazed with debate. The exchange has sometimes seethed with barbed accusations about denial of access to the Liang Bua cave and to the now-famous fossils themselves.
Three weeks ago, primatologists led by Robert Martin of the highly regarded Field Museum in Chicago savaged the Flores claims as "media hype" and -- the thermonuclear insult in anthropology -- as bad science.
full story at news.inq7.net/world/index.php?index=1&story_id=77768