Origins of Hobbit Species Could Be Traced Back To Denisovans and Neanderthals

Over 50,000 years ago, Homo floresiensis (commonly known as the hobbit species) and Homo luzonensis (found in the Philippines) have lived on the islands of Southeast Asia. Their origins were unknown for many years, but new research reveals that they might be related to Denisovans and Neanderthals and technically to modern humans.

The study, entitled "Widespread Denisovan ancestry in Island Southeast Asia but no evidence of substantial super-archaic hominin admixture" and published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, explains that there is no evidence of H. floresiensis or H. luzonensis and Homo sapiens (modern humans) interbreeding.

The two species were island-dwelling humans that stood no taller than 3 feet and 7 inches, a possible result of insular dwarfism.

Moreover, the new study confirms interbreeding between Denisovans and modern humans in Island Southeast Asia. Despite the overwhelming genetic evidence of the existence of southern Denisovans, archaeologists have yet to uncover a shred of fossil evidence related to them.

Researchers believe that H. floresiensis or H. luzonensis might be the elusive southern Denisovans.

Mystery Identity of the Hobbit

In 2017, New Scientist reported that the hobbit species found in the Flores Island in Indonesia evolved from an unknown ancestor that first ventured out of Africa. Researchers believe that these species went to the south and southeast Asia and eventually to Flores Island, where they evolved to become H. floresiensis.

But the new research looks at the possibility of interbreeding between H. floresiensis and H. luzonensis with modern humans, given that human populations in Island Southeast Asia have retained a significant amount of Denisovan DNA. They are also looking at the possibility that Homo erectus might have also contributed to modern human ancestry.

According to Gizmodo, researchers studied over 400 modern human genomes, wherein half of them are from Island Southeast Asia, and found no first-hand genomes of Neanderthals and Denisovans. However, they found second-hand bits of Denisovan DNA that seemed to have interbred with an ancient human population that introduces diversity within the genomes.

Their findings showed that modern humans did not interbreed with H. floresiensis and H. luzonensis but confirmed the Denisovan ancestry of the hobbit species. That means the hobbit species might be very similar to modern humans than previously thought.

But there is no fossil evidence of Denisovans in Island Southeast Asia as well as anywhere else, aside from the finger bone and several teeth found in Siberia and the 160,000-year-old jawbone found in the cave on a Tibetan Plateau.

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Missing Denisovans in Island Southeast Asia

The researchers said that the absence of interbreeding combined with the widespread Denisovan ancestry means that H. floresiensis and H. luzonensis represent the missing Denisovans in Island Southeast Asia, which could have serious implications for paleoanthropology, Gizmodo reported.

But one of the researchers believes that known fossils of H. Erectus, H. floresiensis, and H. luzonensis might be at the right place and time to represent the mysterious southern Denisovans but that their ancestors are more likely to have evolved even before the Denisovan lineage.

Regardless, the researchers said that interbreeding between southern Denisovans and modern humans happened in Island Southeast Asia. The research opens the possibility that the hobbit species could be the mysterious southern Denisovans. The more samples they could collect, the more samples could provide a fuller picture.