Minute Humanoid Skeletons Found on Pacific Island

Homo Florensis may or may not be an actual hobbit, but the skeletons discovered in Indonesia’s Flores Island are frightfully small humanoids. The questions the discovery of the bones raises are the big ones. What does it mean to be human? Is humanity alone in the universe? The answers are not brought much closer with this discovery. However, the little fellows do prove that archaeology is a branch of philosophy and of religion.

Homo Sapiens is the sole remaining species in the genus Homo. Homo Neanderthalensis breathed last about 30,000 years ago. The find on Flores dates back 18,000 years, and perhaps is only 12,000 old. The bones were originally thought to be children, but the wear and tear on the teeth and the pelvis suggested otherwise. Fully grown, this relative of the human race stood 3 feet (1 meter) tall.

Homo Florensis appears to have evolved from Homo Florensis which likely arrived on Flores 1 million years ago. The small size in not an unprecedented adaptation – in regions of limited food, big creatures starve. What is surprising is how they got to Flores. Swimming is implausible, and there is no evidence of a land bridge. This means Homo Erectus, from which Homo Florensis evolved, had to have some talent as a shipwright. Boat building has been considered beyond that species.

For those with a literal-minded view of the scriptures, the “Hobbits of Indonesia” challenge nothing that blind faith has put in place. For those not so inclined, the existence of humanoids other than humans on the planet raises spiritual issues. Did these cousins of humanity have souls? If not, why not? What was so different about them? And if they did, can Homo Sapiens be quite as special as one once thought?

What is most interesting is the human inhabitants of Flores have stories of the “Ebu Gogo.” They describe these creatures as people about a meter high, hairy, with a murmuring language of their own. These potbellied, pointed-eared fellows could also repeat, rather parrot-like, whatever humans said to them. Oral histories can go back centuries, but these stories still suggest the remote possibility that Homo Florensis is not extinct. At very least, they co-existed with humans for a time.



© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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