Quantcast
Last updated on May 31, 2012 at 10:29 EDT

Nine ‘Hobbits’ Found in Cave

October 12, 2005
Repost This

SCIENTISTS yesterday revealed they have found the remains of at least nine “hobbits”.

This makes it more likely the 3ft-tall creatures really were a previously unknown species of human.

The first fossil was discovered a year ago on the Indonesian island of Flores.

Nicknamed “The Hobbit” after JRR Tolkein’s Lord Of The Rings heroes, the remains included the skull of a female who lived 18,000 years ago.

She was just 3ft tall and had a brain about the size of a chimp’s. The small head was controversial, as it contradicted theories that assume a large brain is necessary for intelligence.

Yet tools and evidence of fire-making were also found.

Sceptics had suggested the remains might belong to a”modern” pygmy human or a human with dwarfism.

But in the latest issue of the journal Nature, scientists say more “hobbit” fossils were found in a cave on Flores.

One bone is estimated to be 12,000 years old. Others may date back 95,000 years.

This appears to confirm the creatures were a species of humans, not a freak of nature.

The scientists, led by Dr Michael Morwood, from the University of New England at Armidale, Australia, wrote: “Abnormal growth seems an unlikely explanation.”

In Indonesia, myths persist of little people who live in remote forests to this day