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Article: More Fossil Evidence From 'Hobbit' Island; Tiny Ancestors of Modern Humans May Have Lived in Indonesia Just 12,000 Years Ago
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 12, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Scientists sifting through artifacts and skeletal remains in a
damp cave on a remote Indonesian island have found new evidence that
a race of tiny, primitive "Hobbit"-like human ancestors lived there
as recently as 12,000 years ago.
The Australian-led team unearthed a lower jawbone and other bones
from as many as nine individuals at the Liang Bua cave on the island
of Flores. All the bones are from human ancestors who stood 3 feet
tall and lived between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago.
The controversial Flores site, first reported a year ago, has left
paleontologists puzzling over how such ostensibly primitive beings -
- with 25-cubic-inch brains similar in size to those of human
ancestors 3 ...