The Little People of Flores Island Akash Singh ANTH 329

Intro ▪ Discovered in September 2003 by a joint Indonesian-Australian research team. ▪ Liang Bua cave on Flores, Indonesia. ▪ Nearly complete female skeleton (LB1)

Homo floresiensis ▪ Nickname: Hobbit ▪ Lived from: 95, ,000 years ago. Reconstruction of LB1

Characteristics of H. floresiensis ▪ Height: 106 cm (3 ft 6 in) - female ▪ Weight: 30 kg (66 lbs) - female ▪ Nearly same size as Australopithecus Afarensis (Lucy’s species) ▪ A. Afarensis: ▪ Height: 105 cm (3 ft 5 in) - female ▪ Weight: 29 kg (64 lbs) - female

Mike Moorwood ▪ Australian archaeologist ▪ Co-director of joint Indonesian-Australian team ▪ Died in 2013

How They Survived  Made stone tools  Hunted various fauna  Evidence of controlled fire

Ebu gogo  ‘Grandmother who eats anything’  Local Legend, mythology and folklore of Flores.  Could the tales of Ebu gogo be rooted in truth?

Tools ▪ Sophisticated stone tools ▪ Dated from 90,000-13,000 years ago

Fauna I ▪ Insular Dwarfism Stegodon

Fauna II ▪ Insular Gigantism Komodo dragon

Flores ▪ Lesser Sunda Islands. ▪ No land bridge, however Crossing from Southeast Asia Still possible.

Controversy ▪ New species or pathological Homo sapiens? ▪ Microcephalia? Virtual endocast of LB1

Criticisms ▪ Homo sapiens suffering from microcephaly or hypothyroidism? Modern human with endemic hypothyroidism LB1 Modern human with microcephaly

Brain Size and Function ▪ 380cc ▪ About the size of a chimpanzee ▪ How did they have the ability to make sophisticated tools and hunt?

Shoulder Structure LB1Turkana Boy (H. ergaster)  H. floresiensis shoulder structure shares no similarities to anatomically modern human  Similar to H. ergaster or H. erectus

Wrist Structure ▪ Similar conclusions to shoulder study. ▪ Not similar to modern humans ▪ Shows morphology dating back to 800,000 years.

Origins ▪ Descendant of Homo erectus? Homo erectus Homo floresiensis (LB1)

Cultural Expression ▪ There is no evidence that Homo floresiensis had art, language, or other forms of material expression. ▪ No artifacts, other than tools have been associated with Homo floresiensis.

Many Questions, Few Answers ▪ Origins? ▪ How many lived on Flores? ▪ What killed them? ▪ How did they complete complex tasks with small brains? ▪ Did modern humans have contact with them?

My Thoughts ▪ Descendant of H. erectus ▪ Some truth to the island folklore ▪ Much more to be found in Liang Bua ▪ Possibly other sites nearby ▪ Better understanding of human brain needed.