Hobbits Were Homo Erectus That Shrunk While Living On An Island, Researchers Say

It's easy to conclude that the evolution led to modern humans, which as everyone knows, is the cleverest of the apes. However, there were some strange outings along the way. One very good example is, the Hobbit.

Hobbit is the nickname given to a 3-foot-tall human relative that lived in a place which is now known as Indonesia. They were small, with tiny brains and long arms, but they had tools and teeth just like humans do. Some say that these creatures have lived about 60,000 years ago. Researchers suggest that they were a result of island living. Anthropologists first found the bones of the Hobbits in 2004 on the island of Flores. Their scientific name is Homo floresiensis.

According to npr.org, larger human ancestors from Africa, most likely Homo erectus, ended up on the island. Then they eventually shrank during their stay in the island, because people and animals on the island sometimes evolve and become smaller. However, up to that point, there was no single evidence that "island dwarfism" happened to humans, and people had a difficult time accepting it.

One idea had it that larger human ancestors from Africa - likely Homo erectus - ended up on this island. Then they shrank, because on islands, animals sometimes evolve to become smaller. But up to that point, there was no evidence that this "island dwarfism" applied to human ancestors, and people had a hard time accepting it.

The Smithsonian revealed that a group of scientists first unearthed traces of Homo floresiensis while digging the Liang Bua cave in 2013. The fossils sparked debate when scientists were trying to trace where they came from and how they would fit into the family tree.

There were also tools made of stones at the same site which were much older than the remains, however it still suggests ancient human-like creatures lived on Flores a million years ago. One theory is that these people were another normal-sized species we now refer to as Homo erectus, which was known to live on the island of Java, about 500 km west of Flores.

According to Dr. Yousuke Kaifu, from Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science, the discovery of the tiny 700,000 year old hobbit ancestor suggests that erectus might have shrunk within the space of just 300,000 years, which is a remarkably short period in evolutionary terms. "What is truly unexpected is that the size of the finds indicates that Homo floresiensis had already obtained its small size by at least 700,000 years ago."

BBC News has also reported that Dr. Gert Van den Bergh, from the University of Wollongong's Centre for Archaeological Science, who led the team, said the entire team was surprised at the small size of the adult jawbone. "We were expecting to find something larger than what we found, something closer to the size of the original founder population, Homo erectus, but it turns out that they were as small if not smaller than Homo floresiensis.

He also said that the quick evolution was quite fast but they have no examples of human or shrinking primate on other islands to compare what they have discovered to.

The theory is that Homo erectus shrank to cope with the Island's relatively meagre resources. But the big question is how it got there. Homo erectus was too primitive to build boats and it was too far for the species to swim from Java to Flores. One possibility is that individuals were swept across by a giant tidal wave, according to the researchers.