DO HOBBITS EXIST?
A hobbit is described as a creation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination. In his novels, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”, he portrays them as human-like creatures between two and four feet tall with pointed ears. They live in hobbit holes built on the sides of hills. But did they ever exist?
THE ISLAND OF FLORES
On the Indonesian island of Flores, scientists were looking for signs of the migration of modern humans from Asia to Australia in 2003. They discovered a skeleton in a limestone cave called Liang Bua. She was estimated to be 30 years old when she died around 80,000 years ago. This predates the time modern humans reached Flores by about 50,000 years. Her skull with a small cranial space and large teeth was almost completely intact She was 3 feet 6-inchs tall. They named this previous unknown species Homo floresiensis.
AN ANTHROPOLOGIST RECOGNIZED HER DESCRIPTION
Gregory Forth, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Alberta, conducted fieldwork on Flores in 1984. At the time, the Nage people of central Flores told stories of the Ebu Gogo, small ape-like creatures who lived in the dense forests of Flores hundreds of years ago but no longer existed.
In 2003, he studied the Lio people of eastern Flores. They told identical stories, calling these hominoids Lai Ho’a. They maintained these creatures still existed though were rarely seen. It was claimed there were several instances when they were observed in recent times. They described them as hairy with simian facial features but unlike other apes they walked upright. Their descriptions lined up with the skeleton the scientists had found in the Liang Bua cave. They concluded that the skeleton walked upright, had some ape-like facial features, had no chin and large teeth. To date there has been no proof that the species still exists.
HOMO FLORESIENSIS
It has been concluded that Homo floresiensis was a small extinct species of early human that lived on the island of Flores until about 50,000 years ago, when modern humans arrived. The species is recognized as an immediate descendant of Homo erectus, but with a brain size half of their ancestor. The reduced size of the brain seemed to not affect Homo floresiensis mental compacity. Its prefrontal cortex which is related to cognitive function is comparable to modern humans. There are some indications that they performed complex tasks such as butchering, stone tool development and fire making. The oldest stone tools that have been discovered date back to about 1 million years ago. This dates the arrival of their ancestors to the island. Their tools have many similarities to modern humans.
There have now been over 100 fossil bones of Homo floresiensis found denoting 15 individuals dating to 100,000 to 60,000 years ago. Most of the fossils were found in Liang Bua Cave where the original discovery of the intact skeleton was made. An earlier version of Homo floresiensis was found 70 miles away in Mata Menge.
HOW DID HOMO FLORESIENSIS’ ANCESTORS GET TO THE ISLAND?
During the Ice Age, worldwide sea levels dropped 328 feet, revealing walkable continental shelves and forming land bridges between mainland Asia, Sumatra, Java and Bali. The Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok had a cavernous trench that has persistently flooded throughout the ages. This prevented the formation of a land bridge to the islands east of the Strait comprising Lombok, Sumbawa, Timor and Flores. It suggests that the ancestors of the Homo Floresiensis arrived on Flores by raft crossing enormous sea obstacles to colonize Flores Island.
EVOLUTIONARY IMPACT ON FLORES
During the Great Ice Age (the Pleistocene) that spanned about 2.58 million years of Earth’s history, these conditions allowed many species to develop in total isolation. Half of the area’s mammals, 65% of its amphibian life and 40% of its birds were unique to the region. Homo floresiensis flourished in total isolation on Flores along with rare species evolving like the Komodo dragon, the pygmy elephant, rats bigger than dogs, and giant storks, whose ancestors crossed the ocean perhaps a million years earlier.
This period saw some species get bigger while others got smaller. When the earth swiftly warmed, species that had adapted to the cold became extinct due to both climate change and the introduction of human hunters. This new period, Holocene, saw the development of human civilization.
WHEN DID THEY GO EXTINCT?
Scientists believe the Homo floresiensis lived on Flores for tens of thousands of years. Some think they died out shortly before modern humans reached the island. Stone tools found at Liang Bua cave suggest that modern humans found them on the island 60 thousand years ago. The most recent of their tools appears to date from 50,000 years ago, with the species becoming extinct soon after.
A recent study, however, suggests that worsening climate conditions with an extended dry spell, led to the Homo floresiensis vacating Liang Bua cave. The changing conditions date to the same period that activity in the cave ceded. They may have just relocated to a place on the island where water was more readily available. Is it possible as the Lio people claim that remnants of the species, though rare, still exist?
