“We have the potential to discover new hominids in various regions of Southeast Asia.” This statement comes from Mike Morwood of the University of New England.
The archaeological team, known for its discoveries related to the Hobbit, is now expanding its search for the remains of these peculiar little people on the island of Flores.
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| Stone tools of the Hobbit |
Since last year, at least nine skeletons have been found in a cave in Indonesia. The archaeological team has excavated over 500 tons of tools from another, much older cave located about 40 km away.
This team believes that the population of the ancient Hobbits may have lived in this region around 850,000 years ago.
The skeletal remains of Homo floresiensis, as it is scientifically named, have been excavated from sediment layers in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island.
There is evidence suggesting that this group of people settled in the area approximately 100,000 to 120,000 years ago.
A report published last year provided detailed information about the skeletal remains at Liang Bua, which were shocking when identified as a new species to science.
The individuals found were only about one meter tall and were thus nicknamed Hobbits, after the small characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.”
Professor Morwood, the director of the excavation team, explained: “If we find hominids on Flores Island, we are sure to find them in Timor, or Sulawesi, and possibly Sumbawa, as there are reports of Stegodon fossils associated with stone tools there.”
However, it remains unclear how hominids traveled by sea between these islands, as building rafts may have been a skill unfamiliar to them.
Researchers have suggested that the ancestors of the Hobbit people were Homo erectus, which has been confirmed to have lived on the nearby island of Java.
However, some now assess that it could have been a pre-hominid species known as Homo habilis.
If so, this raises the possibility that hominids settled in Southeast Asia at least two million years ago.
According to the BBC
