Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the Indonesian hobbit, is again at the center of the debate. A new scan of the skull showed that it was not a separate species, but an ordinary person. More precisely, a man
Many anthropologists, however, are not happy with the way the study was conducted, and believe that its results are more obscure than clear.
In 2003, in a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, the remains of a young woman who lived relatively recently, about 18 thousand years ago, were discovered. The find led anthropologists into terrible excitement: the woman was only a meter tall, and her limbs were too long in comparison with the body; finally, she had a tiny skull. The differences from modern human anatomy were so obvious that scientists decided to separate the remains into a new species.
The suspicion immediately arose that in reality it was the same sapiens, the development of which was disturbed by microcephaly or dwarfism.
In a new study, scientists led by anthropologist Ralph Holloway of Columbia University (USA) tested the microcephaly hypothesis using magnetic resonance imaging. They first scanned the skulls of 21 children with the condition and compared the results with those of 118 healthy children. It was found that the patient from the healthy can be distinguished by the cerebellar protrusion (how far back the base of the skull protrudes) and the relative frontal width.
The group then made similar comparisons between endocrane casts of 10 adults with microcephaly, 79 healthy people, 17 Homo erectus, four Australopithecines, and finally the Flores human. It turned out that H. floresiensis has similar parameters to microcephaly and australopithecines.
Paleoanthropologist Peter Brown of the University of New England, Australia, who was involved in the discovery of the fossil, argues that Mr. Holloway's research does not take into account traits that were important in declaring the remains a new species. “The proportions of the endocrane play absolutely no role in the classification of the Flores human as a separate species,” says the specialist. "The size of the brain in relation to the body is important, and this was not considered here."
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Meanwhile, anthropologist Dean Falk of Florida State University (USA) complains that H. floresiensis endocrane measurements are likely distorted by the chips and cracks common in ancient fossils. A computed tomography scan of the same cast showed that it was still a separate species.
Mr. Holloway disagrees with Brown, and Falk laughs: “We worked with Brown's endocrane and with casts built on the basis of Folk's virtual endocranes. If we had problems with the material, then they had the same problems."
Paleoanthropologist William Jungers of Stony Brook University (USA) is also not convinced by Mr. Holloway's findings: “They note a striking resemblance to Australopithecus skulls, but ignore it, opting for microcephaly. A strange decision."
The research results are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
