..."new" man?...

[Texasmujer]

Have ya'll read about the discovery of a "new" division of "man"...a miniature person (skeleton) found on a remote island near Indonesia? According to the article, this 'person' lived alongside homosapiens...it's speculated...Are ther any archeologists/anthropologists (at this site) 'out there' that can shed any more info on this?

This has an impact on the theory of mankind's development...the role of Africa and "Lucy" will be repositioned...this is exciting...a whole new division...

[Texasmujer]

There's more: the explanation for this miniature homo sapiens (if that is what 'he' is---actually, the discovery was os a woman's skeleton) ia that an organism will become smaller to accomodate the lower availability of nutrition.
There were also smaller mammals---elephants, I believe; this was another, miniturized world. Again, I wish some anthropologist could and would comment here...

[Scottish_Republican]

It goes both ways though. The island apparently had giant rats that were about the same size as these people.

[Texasmujer]

That's correct...imagine that---HUGE rats and small elephants and man. I find that, simply amazing. In this chain of islands, there have been long-standing stories of small people...it's just taken SO long for any scientific evidence to reveal itself...

[Scottish_Republican]

TM, there are traditions of little people everywhere.

Certainly in Scotland it is true. I am one myself.

[Texasmujer]

He, he, he...THAT is a LOADED answer!! yes, I know there little people everywhere---but, THIS was a race of miniature human-like organisms...I just find that incredibly exciting/mind boggling! About little people...some are good, others not so...MY "ex" turns out was a VERY LITTLE man...go figure...a superbly educated, intelligent EXTREMELY little person...bless his pointed head!! Unfortunately, my daughter seconds that.

But, "Florensis man" is the genuine thing; this 'man's colony was wiped out by a volcanic explosion. Scientests have named this new discovery 'Florensis man' becuause it was found on the island 'Floral' someting-or-other...

[Texasmujer]

This new, miniature man was discovered on a remote Indonesian island. Scientists say they have uncovered the bones of a human dwarf species maroned for eons while man rapidly colonized the rest of the planet. One tiny specimen, an adult female measuring about 3 feet tall, is described as "the most extreme" figure to be included in the extended human family. This hobbit-sized creature appears to have lived as recently as 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores in a kind of Lost World populated by giant lizards and miniature elephants. Scientists have named the new species Homo florensis, or Flores Man. The specimans' ages range from 95,000 to 12,000 years old..

"So the 18,000-year-old skeleton cannot be some kind of 'freak' thet we just happened to stumble across," said one of the discoverers (Richard G.Roberts of the University of Wollongong in Australia) Flores Man had a brain about the size of a grape-fruit (1/4 the size of the brainof our species,Homo sapiens.) It is closer in size with the brains of transitional prehuman species on Africa more than 3 million years ago. However, evidence suggests Flores Man made some tools, lighted fires, and organized group hunts for meat. It is unknown if this species crossd paths with modern humans. Geologic evidene suggests a massive volcanic eruption sealed its fate some 12,000 years ago, along with other unusual species on the island. This discovery demonstrates that Africa, the acknowledged cradle of humanity, does not hold all the answers to persistent questions of how---and where---we came to be. To some scientists, the speciman's baffling and coarse features bears almost no meaningful resemblance either to modern humans or to our large, archaic cousins.
They suggest that Flores Man doesn't belong in the genus Homo at al, even if it was a recent contemporary.

Researchers from Australia and Indonesia found the partial skeleton 13 months ago in a shallow limestone cave known as Liang Bua. The cave, which extends into a hillside for about 130 feet, has been the subject of scientific analysis since 1964. Excavations are continuing. In 1998, stone tools and other evidence were found on Flores suggested the prescence 900,000 years ago of another early human, Homo erectus. New researchers suggest H. erectus spread to remote Flores and throughout the region, perhaps on bamboo rafts. Researchers suspect the Flores Man probably is an H. erectus descendant that was squeezed by evolutionary pressures. Scientists are still struggling to identify its jumbled features. For example, they say the skull is wide like H. erectus, but the sides are rounder and the crown traces an arc from ear to ear. The skull of H. erectus has steeper sides and a pointed crown, also. The lower jaw contains large, blunt teeth and roots like Australopithecus, a prehuman ancestor in Africa more than 3 million years ago. The front teeth are smaller than modern human teeth. The eye sockets are big and round, but they don't carry a prominent browline. The tibia in the leg shares similarities with apes.

A researcher says, "It makes me think of nothing else in this world."