96 Australian Geographicwith fossils, some surface areas were missing and some bones
were broken. Naturally, our ‘repairs’ were undertaken on the
CT scans of Hobbit’s skull, not the actual bones.
Another issue with some reconstructions is that many, if not
most, of the methods used don’t yield scientifi cally accurate
results. The scientifi c methods for approximating facial appear-
ance are relatively new, and are published in academic journals,
not popular science books, so they are not easily available.
This is unfortunate because these visually compelling displays
of evolution attract public interest to archaeological science, and,
by association, support less exciting areas of research. I’m now
thinking about producing a guide for palaeo-artists to inform
them on what’s new, what still works and what methods to avoid.
My next project is with the only South-East Asian Homo erectus
fossil to still have his facial bones (a specimen known as Sangiran
17). Preparation for this project was completed with AG Society
sponsorship, and later this year I hope to experiment with my
Indonesian colleagues from the Geology Museum in Bandung,
Java, in producing a 3D model of his face (currently my results
are two-dimensional computer models).N
OW THAT WE HAVE A more accurate facial approx-
imation of Hobbit, it helps us to understand this
species as being people that in many ways were like
us, despite their diminutive size. But what happened to these
people and did they overlap with the fi rst modern humans to
arrive on Flores?
Evidence of the presence of Hobbits in the form of stone
tools and butchered pygmy elephant bones is found in layers
of earth at the Liang Bua cave dated from 95,000 to 13,000
years ago. While the 11 fossils themselves date from 38,000 to
as early as 18,000 years ago, if this dating is correct.
Current thinking from some experts is that a volcano – ash
from which is found at Liang Bua – on Flores sent these people
to extinction about 12,000 years ago. To further complicate the
matter, there are legends in Flores of small, hairy cave-dwellers
known as ‘Ebu Gogo’, which some people see as roughly fi tting
the description of Hobbits.
But many of the world’s cultures have legends about ‘little
people’, and, being human, Hobbit was probably not very hairy- or so the evidence suggests. The conclusions we can draw from
these legends, therefore, are not at all clear cut.
It could be that other skeletons of H. fl oresiensis were discov-
ered many years ago, and that they now form part of the cultural
memory of Indonesians there today. In much the same way
that now-extinct animals such as the marsupial lion and other
Australian megafauna probably relate to some of the legendary
creatures in Aboriginal lore across our continent.
Future research will surely unveil more fascinating details
about H. fl oresiensis – an unexpected species that has captured
the world’s imagination. AG
What happened to these
people and did they overlap
with the first modern humans?
Meet the family.
Models reconstructed
from fossils. In the
foreground is an
early modern human
(Homo sapiens)
based on the remains
of Mandal Man,
excavated in North
Korea. To the left is
Homo fl oresiensis.
In the background
is a group of other
humans, including
some archaic and
hairy hominins.SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / RECONSTRUCTIONS BY ELISABETH DAYNES OF THE DAYNES STUDIOag0914_HobbitP96 - 88 2014-08-05T16:33:58+10:00