Second Group of Tinier than Hobbit Hominins Found on Flores Island

Researchers announced today that in 2014 they found remains of a second group of even tinier archaic humans dating back at least 500,000 years before the “Hobbits” of Flores Island near Indonesia.

Scientists say the little people, called Homo floresiensis and discovered in 2003, lived on Flores Island about 100,000 to 50,000 years ago. They are likely descended from an earlier group of hominins who lived nearby on the same island about 700,000 years ago.

A facial approximation of a hobbit. (Dr. Susan Hayes/University of Wollongong)

They speculate that the little humans evolved from large-bodied Homo erectus to Hobbit-sized creatures within 300,000 years.

Researchers are questioning whether Homo floresiensis lived alongside modern humans in Indonesia and whether Homo sapiens had anything to do with their dying out.