Fire use discovery sheds light on the demise of the ‘hobbits’

In a discovery that could help explain how and why Homo floresiensis, the extinct species also known as the hobbits, disappeared approximately 50,000 years ago, researchers have discovered that modern humans had been using fire in Indonesia far earlier than previously believed.

First discovered at the Liang Bua site on the island of Flores in 2003 and given their nickname because of their small stature, Homo floresiensis was a group of hominids believed to have been part of the same genus as modern humans (Homo sapiens). Currently, scientists believe that the original specimen dates back to between 190,000 and 60,000 years ago.

Previous estimates had suggested that the species survived on Flores until as recently as 12,000 years ago, and with the most recent stone tools dating back to just 50,000 years ago, there is now a period lasting from 46,000 years ago to 20,000 years ago during which researchers are not sure what took place there. The new study, which was published in the June 30 edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science, could provide some clues that will help solve the mystery.

“We now know that the hobbits only survived until around 50,000 years ago at Liang Bua. We also know that modern humans arrived in Southeast Asia and Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and most likely quite a bit earlier,” lead author Dr. Mike Morley, a geoarchaeologist and research fellow at the University of Wollongong Australia’s Centre for Archaeological Science, said in a statement. “This new evidence, which is some of the earliest evidence of modern human activity in Southeast Asia, narrows the gap between the two hominin species at the site.”

Findings ‘extremely important’ in the quest for answers

In their new study, Dr. Morley and colleagues from UOW and the National Research Centre for Archaeology in Indonesia analyzed environmental changes that took place at Liang Bua between 190,000 and 20,000 years ago and found evidence of fire places which they believe were used by modern humans for warmth and to cook food between 41,000 and 24,000 years ago.

Since there has been no evidence discovered to date that Homo floresiensis ever used fire during its 130,000 years living at the site, the study authors believe that this is evidence of early modern human activity during this period, which Dr. Morley noted could be “extremely important” when it comes to the search to discover exactly what exactly led to the extinction of the hobbits.

As he explained, “finding the fire places in such an excellent state of preservation allows insights into the behavior of these people.” He and his colleagues said that they plan to continue hunting for additional evidence that will further narrow the time gap, and which could ultimately put our direct ancestors in the same place and time as the hobbits, possibly leading to the discovery of an interaction between the two species that could have led to the downfall of Homo floresiensis.

Their findings also provide further proof of the dispersal of Homo sapiens throughout southeast Asia and into Australia approximately 50,000 years ago, and they come just a few weeks after a team of scientists from UOW reported on the discovery of 700,000 year old fossils that they believed belonged to an ancestor of Homo floresiensis, the researchers noted.

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Image credit: Paul Jones | University of Wollongong

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