Homo floresiensis

Before formal naming or identification, this organism was known as the following on this wiki:
**"Sundanthropus"**

## Statistics

### Synonyms

"Sundanthropus"
*H. hobbitus*
*Parahomo*
*H. sapiens floresiensis*

### Diet

Omnivorous

*Homo floresiensis*, informally nicknamed the 'hobbit', is an extinct species of hominin that lived in Flores, Indonesia during the Late Pleistocene.

## History

It was first discovered on the island of Flores on September 2nd, 2003 by an Australian-Indonesian team of archeologists searching for apomorphic human migratory evidence from Asia to Australia. Instead, they found LB1 from Ling Bua cave, and 15 more skeletons were found from the subsequent 2003-2004 excavations. These were initially dated to 38-13,000 years ago and diagnosed the holotype of *Homo floresiensis* in 2004 by Brown et al.. In late 2003, Peter Brown had sent Chris Stringer a blurry image of LB1, which Stringer thought was a "*habilis*-like discovery" from China, unknowing of its real nature. LB1 was assigned the holotype and the tooth LB2 was referred. The holotype is a somewhat complete skeleton and skull from a 30-year-old woman, nicknamed the "Little Lady of Flores", or simply as "Flo". LB3 was provisionally assigned, being 74,000 years old. The bones were not fossilized, having a described consistency of wet, blotted paper. Because of this, they had to dry the bones at the surface before extraction. The first 7 individuals were uncovered in 2004, with another 7 found in 2009 and an additional 1 represented by teeth in 2015, making at least 15 individuals. Stone artifacts initially dated to 95-13,000 years ago and in the size range for this species are known in Ling Bua. Comparing these to apomorphic human tools from East Timor indicate many similarities. Tsukuba Jacob, local paleoanthropologist, took most of these remains from their repository in Jakarta's National Research Center of Archeology in early December 2004, with permission from one of the directors, Radem Panji Soejono, for 3 months. Some expressed fear that they would be taken by a small group of scientists who disallowed access to the materials, but did not publish any research. On February 23, 2005, the remains were returned, but with damaged portions and 2 leg bones that were not returned. It is reported that long, deep cuts along both sides of the lower edge of the mandible were caused by a knife while attempting to cut the rubber mold, the chin of the second individual was snapped off and glued on misaligned with the surrounding bone. The pelvis was smashed, destroying all data. I  response, the team leader stated:

—Prof. Mike Morwood

Jacob denied accountability, staying that the damages were caused by transport from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, despite physical evidence on the jaw. In 2005, entrance to Ling Bua was forbidden by officials. Some news sites, such as the BBC, stated that this was likely to protect Jacob, considered "Indonesia's king of paleoanthropology". Shortly after his death in 2007, scientists were granted access once more. In the past, the Tolkien Estate has told researchers not to use the term 'hobbit' to describe this species, with a similar situation affecting the Asylum mockbuster Clash of the Empires that had to undergo a name change after a legal dispute prohibited release of the film. The species was also suggested to be named *H. hobbitus* before description. In 2006, two teams sought to extract DNA from a tooth discovered in 2003 but failed because the dentine was targeted and the cementum had a higher concentration of DNA, with heat produced by drills used in excavation possibly denatured. Small brain size and short stature has led to suggestions that this population was microcephalic, had Laron syndrome, Congenital iodine deficiency syndrome or Down syndrome. However, it is universally agreed upon that *H. floresiensis* is a distinct species that does no fall into the range of variation for any of these.

## Description

The small body and cranial capacity define the species, but Brown and Morwood identified dental morphology, a lacking chin and less torsion in the lower humerus as defining features. Each of these has been heavily scrutinized, with many testing ti see if this species is indeed distinct. It has been suggested these were pathological *Homo sapiens*, but a 2015 dental study comparing 450 teeth from living and dead human species states that the primitive canine-premolar and advanced molar are autapomorphic for hominins. Additional findings have supported these traits. Lyras et al. asserted, using 3D morphometrics, that LB1 has a skull differing from apomorphic microcephalics and bears more similarity to *Homo erectus*. Ian Tattersall argues that it is too plesiomorphic to assign to *Homo* but this is generally discarded. LB1 was 1.06 meters tall and LB8 was 1.09 meters tall, which are outside *Homo sapiens* variability and shorter than the shortest apomorphic people, such as Mbenga, Mbuti, Twa and Semang adult women or Amdamanese adult women. LB1 is estimated at a mass of 25 kilograms (55 pounds), with her and LB8 being somewhat smaller than australopithecines such as Lucy. This makes *H. floresiensis* the smallest human species. This is likely a product of insular dwarfism. Jacob et al. (2006) suggest LB1 has a similar stature to Rampasasa pygmies who inhabit the island, and that size differs between pygmy populations. However, these people's are unrelated to this species.

The individuals otherwise most resemble *Homo erectus*, which overlap with earlier specimens. The brain was also very small, with LB1 having a cc of 380 centimeters³, being in range of chimpanzees and australopiths and half of its presumed ancestor. This brain-body mass ratio lies between *Homo erectus* and apes. This is linked with reduction in pygmy hippopotamuses in Madagascar in 2009. This does not appear to influence mental faculties as the Brodmann area 10 of the prefrontal cortex is about apomorphic-sized. Use of fire  butchering and stone tool production is also present, which require high cognitive power. Humerus torsion is much less than apomorphic forms, with a 120° (about 20° less than apomorphic forms, in the lower range) plane on the elbow joint, which may have presented arm swinging advantage. At the same time, an unusual shoulder girdle and short clavicle would have displayed the shoulders forward, almost in shrugging posture, compensating for the lower range of the arms and allowing maneuverability in the elbows similar to apomorphic humans. The wrists are much similar to apes and *Australopithecus*, lacking features that appear 800,000 years ago. The legs are more robust than apomorphic forms with unusually long and flat feet. This may have made the knees bend further back when walking, causing a high-stepping gait and low walking speed. The toes were usually shaped and the big toe was very short.

## Classification

Many primitive and derived features were presented upon naming, suggesting they were contemporaneous with apomorphic humans. Before publication, they suggested they be placed in the genus *Sudanthropus* before reviewers suggested a move to *Homo*. 2 orthopedic studies from 2007 suggest a wrist more similar to chimpanzees and *Australopithecus* and another in 2007 suggesting the arms and shoulders were more similar to early *Homo* and other apes. In 2008, Lee Berger et al. described specimens from Palau who were similar to this species, which turned out to be juvenile apomorphic humans, suggesting that *H. floresiensis* were insular dwarfs of *Homo erectus*. In 2009, it was suggested to have split off shortly before or afte*r Homo habilis*. Jungers et al. (2009) support this with plesiomorphic traits. Bayesian analysis in 2015 finds similarity most with *Homo sediba*, *Homo habilis* and *Homo georgicus*, suggesting that these populations left Africa before *Homo erectus*, being the first to do so. However, dental characters suggest that *Homo erectus* was the ancestor, reaching the island 1 million years ago. In 2016, teeth and a partial jaw from Mata Menge, about 74 kilometers (46 miles) from Ling Bua were assumed to be ancestral to *H. floresiensis*, dating to 700,000 years ago. Australian archeologist Gerrit van den Bergh finds them to be smaller than later fossils, using these to find that they evolved from a derived population of *Homo erectus* that rapidly shrank. In 2017, a phylogenetic analysis found that it split early, presumably from an australopithecine as sister to *Homo habilis*. Although supported by a 2018 study, *H. floresiensis* is often left out of phylogenetic datasets along with problematic species because hey are enigmatic, and most support the theory that they are descendants of *Homo erectus*.

If *H. floresiensis* is a new genus of hominin, the name *Parahomo* would take priority. However, before publication, it was thought that it was a new genus, with the authors using the name "Sundananthropus floresianus" or "S. tegakenensis" in preprints. Discussion with peer reviewers led to the specimens reclassified as in *Homo*. One of the original species names were "floresianus", meaning "flowery anus" and was, changed to instead reflect the island of Flores as it was initially intended to.

## Paleoecology

A deep neighbouring strait kept Flores isolated during the Wisconsin glaciation, despite low seas that connected Sundaland. Therefore their ancestors must have reached the island via rafting, possibly using crafts made of bamboo around 1 million years ago. Many artifacts from Ling Bua (including lithic flakes, points, perforators, blades and microblades associated with *Stegodon*) suggest that they were hated into barbs to sink into juvenile elephant prey. The Soa Basin also bears similar artifacts, 40 kilometers (31 miles) south, associated with *Stegodon* and Komodo dragons, likely being an ancestral population. The youngest bones from this cave are 60,000 years old and the youngest tools are 10,000 years later in age. Previous dating of 12,000 years was due to nonconformity in the cave stratigraphy. They went extinct around the time apomorphic humans reached the island, suggesting initial encounters triggered their extinction. This is consistent with the extinction of *Homo neanderthalensis* in some places and anthropogenic extinctions. Apomorphic humans from 46,000 years ago suggest replacement of *H. floresiensis* and other fauna such as *Stegodon florensis insularis* and *Leptoptilos robustus*. Populations may have taken advantage of lowering sea levels to reach Sulawesi, possibly evolving into another species.

## Cryptozoology,

Smith and Mangiacopra (2007) consider Dutch sightings from the Age of Exploration (1400s-1600s) to represent *H. floresiensis* based on outdated age estimates of 12-13 kya and apparent cultural evidence, with the species becoming extinct only recently. They also assign the species to a new genus; *Parahomo*. These hominids have been connected with similarly-sized cryptids of resemblance, such as the Ebu Gogo and Orang Pendek, which revised dating makes these connections weaker. However, the rough terrain and jungles of Flores create the possibility for a new primate species or misidentification to occur. The Orang Pendek is one of the few ape cryptids cryptozoo/paleontologists such as Darren Naish believe have genuine merit[*citation needed*]. The Hindu god Hanuman was once hypothesized to be a Denisovan or *H. floresiensis*. Forth (2022) claimed that the species was still alive, with several reports of "ape-man" with a tail, straight head hair, furry shoulders, strange foot morphology, a short height and breasts (in one report), all of which reports could not be retrieved as the bodies were destroyed. This is unconfirmed.

## References

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo\_floresiensis
* https://www.smh.com.au/national/hobbits-triumph-tempered-by-tragedy-20050305-gdkv4a.html
* https://twitter.com/ChrisStringer65/status/1174934445423382529
* https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature02999
* https://coconuts.co/jakarta/features/ancestors-flores-hobbits-may-pioneers-first-human-migration-africa/
* https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fajpa.21255
* https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2016/03/31/new-homo-floresiensis-dates-may-quash-cryptozoology-theories-about-hobbits/?sh=430552952f2c
* Smith, Dwight and Mangiacopra, Gary. (2007). The Hobbits of Flores: A New Genus of Hominid – *Parahomo*. In: Heinselmann, Craig (ed.). *Elementum Bestia: Being an Examination of Unknown Animals of the Air, Earth, Fire and Water*. CRYPTO. 265 pp.
* https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3048479/hindu-monkey-god-hanuman-really-homo-erectus

1. ↑ https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-01-14/stone-tools-date-earliest-occupations-of-humans-on-sulawesi/7086308
2. ↑ https://theconversation.com/ancient-stone-tools-found-on-sulawesi-but-who-made-them-remains-a-mystery-92277
3. ↑ https://www.the-scientist.com/reading-frames/book-excerpt-from-between-ape-and-human-69917