Homo floresiensis

Because of climate change or the impact of modern humans, who began to spread from Africa around 100,000 years ago, the strange story of H. floresiensis eventually ended in extinction. But modern humans must surely have encountered this tiny relative of ours, and the discovery shows how much we still have to learn about the story of human evolution.

-- from Nature putting the Homo floresiensis thing in perspective this week (free article, though much of their site is not).

(Fights urge to sing The Tragically Hip's Little Bones...)

This, in case you missed it, is a rather dramatic discovery. Lots else at Nature and elsewhere.

The really wacky part--and ya gotta love a researcher with a sense of imagination (and/or, I could suppose, a nose for newsworthiness), is more here--folk legends of those islands concerning a 'little people' which do, at first blush, seem to have a few things in common with the remains:

The ebu gogo were short--about a metre tall--long-haired, pot-bellied, with ears that stuck out, walking with a slightly awkward gait, and had longish arms and fingers. They murmured at each other and could repeat words parrot-fashion. They could climb slender trees but were never seen holding stone tools, whereas we have lots of sophisticated artefacts associated with Homo floresiensis. That's the only inconsistency with the archaeological evidence. Gert had heard of these stories 10 years ago and he thought them no better than leprechaun stories--until we unearthed the hobbit."

Well, okay, but lots of cultures have little people legends. Doesn't necessarily mean that much. Let's keep that in mind...

But do let's have a very, very good look around for them anyway, just in case...

Lotsa questions, with or without living, undiscovered near-cousins with some linguistic and toolmaking capabilities hiding out on Pacific islands, sure. Especially this one:

So H. erectus was building boats suitable to get to Flores 800,000 years ago?

That's something all on its own, if true, make no mistake.

Just. Wow.