Whence Homo floresiensis ? - The Fossil Chronicles - page 158

specimen of Homo floresiensis had a combination of primitive features
throughout her tiny skeleton that harkened back to early Homo ( habilis ?
ergaster ? erectus ?) or even to earlier australopithecines, who were thought
to have lived exclusively in Africa. Yet Hobbit also had features that
were unique. Clearly her kin had experienced a long period of isolation
in which they had evolved into a distinct species.
But where had hobbits come from and when, exactly, did they die
out? Scientists are not the only ones who wonder about this. The public
also seems to have an almost insatiable curiosity about Homo floresiensis,
including villagers whose families have lived for centuries on Flores
and who are keenly aware of the international excitement generated by
the discovery. (Scooter and I know this firsthand from our visit to Flores
in conjunction with the 2007 International Seminar on Southeast Asian
Paleoanthropology. As we and our colleagues caravanned for several
hours from village to village to get to Liang Bua, villagers enthusiasti-
cally greeted us with flags and welcoming ceremonies.) LB1 has a special
significance for the people of Flores, not just because she was discovered
there, but also because of folklore concerning a group of small, wild
humans, the ebu gogo, who reputably once lived in a cave on the slope of
a volcano called Ebulobo, in the Nage region of the island . 3
Richard (Bert) Roberts, a coauthor of one of the two announcements
of Homo floresiensis, heard about the ebu gogo from villagers during a visit
to Flores in October 2004, right before the discovery was unveiled . 4
Roberts was told that the ebu gogo were small, hairy people who had
lived outside the village and were about Hobbit's height, with long arms
and fingers. They supposedly walked with an awkward gait and had
potbellies and protruding ears . 5 The women reportedly had extremely
pendulous breasts. Lore has it that the ebu gogo murmured softly to one
another and parroted back phrases that were spoken to them by the
ancestors of today's villagers, such as “Here's some food.” The name ebu
gogo means “grandmother who eats anything,” which seems apt, since
a village elder told Roberts that they “ate everything raw, including
vegetables, fruits, meat, and, if they got the chance, even human meat.”