The discovery in 2004 of the fossilized remains of a small hominid was big news.
The skeleton was found on the Indonesian island of Flores, and belonged to a female who stood 1 metre tall and weighed 25 kilograms. It was nicknamed 'the hobbit' because of its small stature, and given the scientific name Homo floresiensis after the island on which it was found.The original skeleton, called LB1, was 18,000 years old. Since the discovery of LB1, 8 other skeletons, dating from between 90,000 and 12,000 years ago, have also been found.
At the time, researchers concluded that H. floresiensis was a new hominid species, which must have been the ancestor of Homo erectus, the only hominid species known to have existed in Asia at the right time.
The hobbit was considered to be the most exciting discovery in palaeoanthropology for 50 years. Recently, however, H. floresiensis has become the most controversial topic in the field.
Robert Martin, of Chicago's Field Museum, does not believe that H. floresiensis constitutes a new homind species. Instead, he thinks that the hobbits were small modern humans, and that the stone tools found buried with the hobbits were made by Homo sapiens.
Martin points out the size of LB1's brain (400 cubic centimetres) is exactly the same as that of a human with microcephaly, a congenital condition in which brain development is incomplete.
On the other hand, Dean Falk of Florida State Univesity, Tallahassee, argues that the hobbit skull is shaped differently from that of a microcephalic human, and has frontal and temporal lobe features that are missing from Homo sapiens.
It is unfortunate that, of the 9 hobbit skeletons that have been excavated, only the first, LB1, has a skull. The finding of more hobbit skulls may clear up the debate over whether LB1 was microcephalic human or not.
The discovery of stone tools on Flores by Adam Brum and his colleagues, reported in this week's issue of Nature, has implications for the status of H. floresiensis. The 500 blades discovered have been dated to more than 700,000 years ago, and appear to have been made in the same way as more recent tools found with the remains of hobbits.
Brum's team speculates that the tools they have discovered were probably made by H. erectus, and that the skills for making them may have been inherited by H. floreseinsis. (John Hawks discusses the discovery of these tools in detail.)
The hobbit controvery is likely to continue for some time. The discovery of more hobbit artefacts and skeletons, including (hopefully) skulls, should provide more evidence about the status of H. floresiensis and the evolution of our own species.
Until then, says anthropologist Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum, "whoever digs in Flores…has to do so with an open mind."
Mo Costandi 