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Nine 'Hobbits' Found in Cave

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 03:00 CDT

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

Source: Daily Record; Glasgow (UK)

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