The origin of Indonesian 'hobbits' was finally revealed. The study claims that the Homo Floresiensis evolved from African ancestors, not from Java.
Phys reported that finally the origin of the Indonesian "hobbits" which were discovered on the Island of Flores in 2003 had been found out. After further studies, the bones of the Homo floresiensis, which was first believed to be evolved from Homo erectus on Java are not actually Java Man but came from an ancient African ancestor.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the research team led by Debbie Argue from Australian National University found out that the Homo floresiensis is more like a sister species of Homo habilis. The latter is a species which evolved in Africa two million years ago, compared to Homo erectus which emerged in nearly 1.2 million years ago.
The research team of Dr. Argue disproves the previous research conducted by the University of Wollongong's Center For Archeological Science led by Gert Van Den Bergh. The previous research claimed that the 'hobbits" of Homo floresiensis evolved from a larger species of Homo erectus.
Dr. Argue further stated that "It's possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa, and then migrated. Or it might be, the common ancestor moved from Africa and then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere else."
The "hobbits" or Homo floresiensis was known to live on the Island of Flores until as recent as 54,000 years ago. Even Dr. Argue said that when it comes to many features like the structure of the jaw, and the 133 data points in the skull, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders, the Homo floresiensis is more primitive than Homo erectus.
Additionally, Dr. Argue said that their analyses could support the theory that the "hobbits" or Homo floresiensis have existed earlier around 1.75 million years ago in the timeline of evolution than the Homo erectus. " If this was the case, Homo floresiensis would have evolved before the Home habilis, making it more archaic," Dr. Argue said.
Professor Mike Lee from Flinders University and the South Australian Museum analyzed and testified the data gathered by the team of Dr. Argue. Professor Mike said, "We can be 99 percent sure that the "hobbits" or Homo floresiensis is not related to Homo erectus. It isn't even malformed Homo sapiens."
