Homo floresiensis

***Homo floresiensis*** ("**Flores Man**", also called "hobbit") is a probable species in the genus *Homo*, to which humans belong.

The remains were found in 2004 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Parts of the skeletons of nine individuals were found, including one complete cranium (the head). The most important and obvious identifying features of *H. floresiensis* are its small body, and small size of the space for the brain inside the skull. This is why the discoverers have called members of the species "hobbits", after J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional race of roughly the same height.

## Discovery
The remains were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores by an Australian-Indonesian team of archaeologists in 2003. Archaeologist Mike Morwood and colleagues were looking for evidence of the original human migration of *H. sapiens* from Asia to Australia. They were not expecting to find a new species. They were surprised at the discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of a hominin.

Excavations done after that found seven more skeletons, originally thought to be from 38,000 to 13,000 years ago.

However, more extensive stratigraphic and chronological work pushed the most recent evidence of their existence back to 50,000 years ago. Their skeletal material is now dated to from 100,000 to 60,000 years ago. Stone tools recovered alongside the skeletal remains were from archaeological horizons ranging from 190,000 to 50,000 years ago.

Researchers hope to find preserved mitochondrial DNA to compare with samples from similarly unfossilised specimens of *Homo neanderthalensis* and *H. sapiens*. *Homo sapiens* reached the region by around 45,000 years ago.

## A new species or not? 
Archaeologist Mike Morwood and colleagues who found the remains say they think the individuals belong to a new species, *H. floresiensis*, in our human genus *Homo*.

Not everyone agrees that this is a new species. Indonesian anthropologist Teuku Jacob  suggested that the skull of LB1 was a modern human with microcephaly. This is a disorder that causes the bones of the head to stop growing. Another study says that perhaps the individuals were born without a working thyroid gland, which would result in the small size of the hominins because of a disorder called myxedema.

Two studies of the bones published in 2007 both reported evidence to support species status for *H. floresiensis*. A study of three bits of bones from the hand (carpals) showed that they were similar to the carpal bones of a chimpanzee or an early hominin such as *Australopithecus*. They were also different from the bones of modern humans. A study of the bones and joints of the arm, shoulder, and legs also concluded that *H. floresiensis* was more similar to early humans and apes than modern humans. In 2009, the publication of a cladistic analysis, and a study comparing body sizes, gave further support for the theory that *H. floresiensis* and *Homo sapiens* are separate species.

## Extinction 
Archaeologists believe that the species has survived on Flores at least until 12,000 years ago. This makes it the longest lasting non-modern human. It also lived longer than the Neanderthals (*H. neanderthalensis*), which became extinct about 24,000 years ago. It is said that they were there at the time of the arrival of the first Portuguese ships during the 16th century. These creatures are claimed to have existed as recently as the late 19th century. Gerd van den Bergh, a paleontologist working with the fossils, reported hearing of the Ebu Gogo ten years before the fossil discovery. On the nearby island of Sumatra, there are reports of a 1-1.5m tall humanoid, the Orang Pendek which might be related to *H. floresiensis*.

## References 
## Further reading 
*Linda Goldenberg 2007. *Little people and a lost world: an anthropological mystery*. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Twenty-First Century Books. 
*Maciej Henneberg & John Schofield 2008. ''The Hobbit trap: money, fame, science and the discovery of a 'new species'.'' Kent Town: Wakefield Press. 

## Other websites
* John D. Hawks. Blog of a professor of anthropology:
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* Homo floresiensis - The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program
* Hobbits in the Haystack: Homo floresiensis and Human Evolutions – Turkhana Basin Institute presentment at the Seventh Stony Brook Human Evolution Symposium