“We have prospects of finding new hominids in different regions of Southeast Asia.” This is the statement from Mike Morwood of the University of New England.
The archaeological team, known for their discoveries related to the Hobbit, is now expanding their search for the remains of these strange little people on the island of Flores.
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Stone tools of the Hobbit |
Since last year, at least 9 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 kilometers away.
This team believes that the population of the ancient Hobbits may have lived in this area approximately 850,000 years ago.
The remains of Homo floresiensis, as they are scientifically named, were excavated from sediment layers in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island.
There is evidence suggesting this group inhabited the area around 100,000 to 120,000 years ago.
A report published last year detailed parts of the skeleton found in Liang Bua, which was shocking as it was identified as a new species to science.
The discovered individuals were only about one meter tall and were thus named Hobbits, inspired by the tiny 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, because there are reports of Stegodon fossils related to stone tools there.”
However, it remains unclear how these hominids moved across the seas between these islands, as rafting could have been a foreign skill to them.
Researchers have suggested that the ancestors of the Hobbits were Homo erectus, which has been confirmed to have lived on the nearby island of Java.
But some now evaluate that it could be 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 BBC