Not every day scientists are able to find and discover new species of man. As reported livescience.com precisely this event occurred in 2004 in the cave of Liang Bua on Flores island in Indonesia. Archaeologists explored the cave, where he discovered the fossilized remains, which lay in the Liang Bua about 18 000 years. The miniature size of the skull and other bones helped to characterize what exactly was this unique kind of human — Homo floresiensis.
Despite the fact that Homo floresiensis was strongly reminiscent of the General characteristics of modern man, his height was only about 1 meter in height
Hobbits really existed
For the first time, scientists-archaeologists have discovered Homo floresiensis, along with their stone tools and remains of other animals. The first sample of the “hobbits” for them was 30-year-old adult female, rising 3.5 feet (1.06 m). Despite its respectable age, she managed to preserve almost intact skull and skeleton of the body, which included several limb bones, hands and pelvis. His discovery scientists have studied for 15 years to eventually give the conclusion that the heyday of Homo floresiensis on the island was the place to be from 60 000 to 90 000 years ago.
See also: Our DNA hides the traces of the unexplored types of people
But the discoveries were not over. In 2019 in the Philippines, anthropologists have found a new human species — Homo Luzonensis. They managed to find 13 instances of small bones and teeth that are totally different from the specific features of the remains already discovered ancient people.
Why hobbits of small stature?
Zoologists suggest that the main reason for little growth in ancient human species Homo floresiensis and Homo Luzonensis could be the influence of the island, which they inhabited. So, scientists have noted a tendency to decrease in size, when large species settles on a small island. A vivid example could be found the remains of dwarf deer the size of a dog on the island of Crete, as well as rats the size of a cow in the Caribbean and hippos, with the weight of a donkey, Cyprus.
The lack of natural predators on the island, as well as the scarcity of resources could be the main reasons for the reduction of body size Florensky person
Researchers believe that the ancient people could greatly affect and frequent reproduction in the absence of any natural threats from predators on the island. In other words, females Florensky human children to be born smaller than other types of ancient human, although much more often.
In some studies, scientists have determined that over the millennia, evolution could change the large human to the size of “the hobbit” under the influence of many conditions. The results showed that the evolution of only 10 000 years to change a large body of Homo erectus to the small species, they are Homo floresiensis and Homo Luzonensis.
If you like this article, I invite you to join our official channel on Yandex.Zen, where you can find more useful information from the world of popular science and technology.
This study proves that the fast evolution and natural selection likely in many environmental parameters and can be a powerful force that can change even the structure of the body.