‘Hobbit’ human ancestors may be hiding on Indonesian island: Anthropologist

Early small humans walked the island of Flores between 7,00,000 and 60,000 years ago. The world now knows the island of Flores as Indonesia. Homo floresiensis, a late Pleistocene ape, was known as the ‘hobbit’ as it was just 3 feet and 6 inches tall and had a brain that was one-third the size of a conventional human.

They went extinct 12,000 years ago, according to studies conducted throughout the years. However, a British anthropologist now claims that no one truly knows if Home floresiensis became extinct and that they might still be living on the Indonesian island. In his latest book, Gregory Forth, a retired anthropologist from the University of Alberta, claims that sightings of an ‘ape-man’ on Flores might be an old progenitor who has somehow survived into the present world.

‘We simply don’t know when this species became extinct or indeed dare I say — I did dare say — we don’t even know if it is extinct’, Forth told Live Science. Since he began his studies in 1984, Forth has gathered a number of tales and stories about the humanoid creatures who live in the forest.

He began the additional investigation after a team of scientists excavated a fragmentary female skeleton of a humanoid species less than 4ft tall from the Liang Bua cave in Flores in 2003. The scientists christened the creature ‘Hobbit’ after J.R.R. Tolkein’s fictitious creation at the time. Since then, there have been rumours that the hobbits never went extinct.

Also Read: PM Modi inaugurates children’s heart hospital in Fiji

As per Forth, over 30 people have reported seeing hobbit-like human forebears. ‘I conclude that the best way to explain what they told me is that a non-sapiens hominin has survived on Flores to the present or very recent times’, he said.

In his book, he also discusses accusations concerning a body that didn’t appear to be that of a man or a monkey. The excavated remains appeared to fit the Homo floresiensis description. Experts from all across the world, however, are sceptical of the assertion.

‘Realistically, the idea that there’s a large primate that is unobserved on this island and surviving in a population that can sustain itself is pretty close to zero’, John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, told Live Science.