Hobbit-like Species Existed ?

[Hum]

AP) -- Scientists digging in a remote Indonesian cave have uncovered a jaw bone that they say adds more evidence that a tiny prehistoric Hobbit-like species once existed.

The jaw is from the ninth individual believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. The bones are in a wet cave on the on the island of Flores in the eastern limb of the Indonesian archipelago, near Australia.

The research team which reported the original, sensational finding nearly a year ago strongly believes that the skeletons belong to a separate species of early human that shared Earth with modern humans far more recently than anyone thought.

The bones have enchanted many anthropologists who have come to accept the interpretation of these diminutive skeletons marooned on Flores with dwarf elephants and other miniaturized animals, giving the discovery a kind of fairy tale quality.

"Many syndromes can cause microencephaly and dwarfism and they all need to be considered," said Daniel E. Lieberman of the Peabody Museum at Harvard, who wrote a commentary in Nature. "The findings are not only astonishing, but also exciting because of the questions they raise."

full story:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/10/11...w.ap/index.html

[MonkeyClaw Veteran]

thats so cool! i would love to have a hobbit, just a cool little person running around my room. it would be so cool!

[Morgan]

Haha now that is very interesting! :D