New twist in Hobbit-human debate
Scientists claim 18,000-year- old "Hobbit" remains are not a new human species, but modern humans with a growth disorder.
Ref. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7276943.stm
That is an interesting answer to all the scientists that were becoming excited over this being another human pieces, but the question remains about how this genetic disorder remained so tightly within one group of people.
I like the theory that the disorder was linked to an environmental issue, as it makes sense but now they need to go back and take more care to get uncontaminated samples to find physical evidence. I do not understand why a person gets ridiculed fro proposing a theory of why some thing exists, with out physical evidence. After all it is a scientific technique to get a theory then use that to help direct your research to find evidence to support or disprove it.
Hobbit feud: scientists argue over mysterious bones
The latest chapter of this story comes in the next Journal of Human Evolution, which boasts four reports concerning the hobbits- five years after discovery was first disclosed in the journal Nature. "Here we report the discovery, from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia, of an adult hominin," wrote the authors of that 2004 paper in the formal language of scientists declaring a new species. ("Hominin" is what the cool kids among paleontologists say instead of "hominids" now, or what reporters call "human species." ) Ref. Source 2
Evidence points to the Hobbit, 'Flores Indonesia', being a new hominid.
They share a common trait in their wrists, that is a characteristic of the great apes. A locking mechanism for knuckle walking that our ancestors lost. I intend to read, 'A New Human' and learn more, but what I have seen in the documentary seems to prove that the 'hobbits' were indeed a separate species.
As I am not a strong supporter of the 'Out of Africa' theory, (even though recent genetic studies are giving more support to it) instead leaning toward the theory that are ancestors left the continent far before scientists theorize. New evidence in Ethiopia, may prove that our split from the great apes may have happened even earlier than was thought, meaning that our early ancestors could have migrated far sooner.
If our ancestors did, walk ancient Europe as Homo-habilis, or possibly even an Australopithecine, then it is very probable that in an isolated area a diminutive hominid could have evolved.
I laughed at the depiction of our ancestors meeting the tiny, 'Flores Indonesia', in a peaceful manner. To this day we are still eating monkeys and even apes! Barbaric! Our ancestors were probably the ones that killed them off and because we most likely ate them is the reason there are little fossilized remains.
Edited: Tiphereth on 4th Feb, 2009 - 7:33pm