For a long time, scientists - anthropologists around the world have been fiercely debating the remains of miniature people who lived on the Indonesian island about 15 thousand years ago. According to the latest research, these people were not Homo Sapiens.
We recall that for the first time the remains of a human flores, or Homo Floresiensis, were discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores. For their small stature, they were immediately nicknamed "The Hobbits". Even then, disagreements arose between scientists as to whether the "Hobbits" can be called a type of modern man who underwent genetic diseases, or whether they are an unknown branch of early people.
After analyzing the bones of the skull, experts stated that miniature humans do not belong to Homo Sapiens. Previously, experts still could not come to an agreement on this issue; studies were carried out repeatedly that persuaded scientists to one or another opinion, often causing fierce discussions.
For example, some experts confidently stated that the Floresian man is a representative of the dwarf species Homo Erectus, which has significantly decreased in size over hundreds of generations under conditions of island isolation. In confirmation of this hypothesis, the remains of stegodons - miniature animals resembling an elephant in their appearance - were presented. The adult hobbit was about a meter tall and weighed about 25 kilograms.
According to another group of scientists, Homo Floresiensis belongs to a variety of modern humans, and its small stature and small brain (no larger than a grapefruit) are the result of some kind of genetic disease. For example, it could be "Dwarf Cretinism", which usually develops when a woman lacks iodine during pregnancy. Also, pygmies could be a consequence of the presence of other negative environmental factors, or the inhabitants of the island of Flores suffered from hereditary microcephaly, as a result of which not only the brain, but also its bony membrane is damaged.
However, after the results of the work of two French scientists were published in the Journal of Human Evolution, more and more researchers began to believe that the "hobbits" were not Homo Sapiens. In their study, the specialists used a new approach, according to which the images of the bone tissues of the Floresian human skull were viewed in high resolution. In particular, the study examined the remains of an individual LB1, whose skull is the best preserved.
As one of the authors of the study, Antoine Balzo, a specialist at the Museum of Natural History, said, earlier experts conducted analysis based on images of not very high quality. Together with Balzo, he worked as a paleopathologist Philippe Charlier, who specializes in the study of obscure cases in medicine.
The high-resolution images that were taken were carefully examined by specialists to develop maps of bone thickness. According to balzo, it is in the layers of the bones of the skull that the basic information is contained. Thus, the researchers received an answer to the question - can the "Hobbits" be classified as Homo Sapiens? Despite the fact that experts have found signs of minor diseases, there is nothing that would indicate the presence of serious genetic diseases that other scientists have mentioned.
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And, although now one part of the riddle has been solved, there remains one more unclear moment. So, researchers cannot now say for sure whether the "Hobbits" are a miniature copy of Homo Erectus, who migrated from the neighboring island of Java, or whether it is another separate branch of evolution.
