Indonesian 'hobbits' were distinct human species, say researchers

Evidence suggests that diminutive people from Indonesian island of Flores were not modern pygmies, as previously thought
The skull of Homo floresiensis
The skull of Homo floresiensis. Photograph: Rex Features






A research team led by William Jungers, an American paleoanthropologist concluded that "the foot of Homo floresiensis exhibits a broad array of primitive features that are not seen in modern humans of any body size".


In a commentary accompanying the journal report, Daniel Lieberman, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University who was not a member of the team, noted that the initial scepticism over the hominid as a distinct species was understandable.

"All in all, many scientists (myself included) have sat on the fence, waiting for more evidence about the nature and form of Homo floresiensis," Lieberman wrote. "And now we have some."