page_title: Homo floresiensis
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Homo floresiensis / Specimens / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: A floresi ember (Homo floresiensis) egyik nőnemű példányának csontváza, az angliai Natural History Museum-ban. English: The skeleton of a Homo floresiensis woman at the Natural History Museum in London, England.
context_page_description: Homo floresiensis is a small species of archaic human which inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia until the arrival of modern humans about 50,000 years ago.
  The remains of an individual who would have stood about 1.1 m in height were discovered in 2003 at Liang Bua on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete skull, referred to as "LB1". These remains have been the subject of intense research to determine whether they represent a species distinct from modern humans; the dominant consensus is that these remains do represent a distinct species due to genetic and anatomical differences.
  This hominin was at first considered remarkable for its survival until relatively recent times, initially thought to be only 12,000 years ago. However, more extensive stratigraphic and chronological work has pushed the dating of the most recent evidence of its existence back to 50,000 years ago. The Homo floresiensis skeletal material is now dated from 60,000 to 100,000 years ago; stone tools recovered alongside the skeletal remains were from archaeological horizons ranging from 50,000 to 190,000 years ago.
context_section_description: The first specimens were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 by a joint Australian-Indonesian team of archaeologists looking for evidence of the original human migration of modern humans from Asia to Australia. They instead recovered a nearly complete, small-statured skeleton, LB1, in Liang Bua Cave, and subsequent excavations recovered seven additional skeletons, initially dated from 38,000 to 13,000 years ago. 
  LB1 is a fairly complete skeleton, including a nearly complete skull, which belonged to a 30-year-old female, and has been nicknamed "Little Lady of Flores" or "Flo". An arm bone provisionally assigned to H. floresiensis is about 74,000 years old. The specimens are not fossilized and have been described as having "...the consistency of wet blotting paper." Once exposed, the bones had to be left to dry before they could be dug up.
  Stone implements of a size considered appropriate to these small humans are also widely present in the cave. The implements are at horizons initially dated to 95,000 to 13,000 years ago. Modern humans reached the region by around 50,000 years ago, by which time H. floresiensis is thought to have gone extinct. Comparisons of the stone artefacts with those made by modern humans in East Timor indicate many technological similarities.
caption: Skeleton at the Natural History Museum, London
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