Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 138
The only complete skull of
Homo fl oresiensis
yet found shows the small brain
case and projecting brow ridges. © Djuna Ivereigh/Arkenas.
about 100,000 years old. The Hobbits must have overlapped with modern
humans on Flores.
No other hominan remains have been found from these strata. So the
simplest interpretation of these discoveries is that some unknown ances-
tors of the Hobbits, possibly
H. erectus
but more likely some other hominan,
arrived on Flores at least 800,000 years ago. Although they brought with
them only primitive tools, they probably improved on them over time. This
newly invented technology allowed them to hunt the large animals that they
found on the island, some of which were fi erce predators. And once they had
arrived on the island, unless they were tiny to begin with, they were subject
to the same natural selection pressure that produced the tiny elephants on
Flores and on many other islands around the world. When food is in short
supply large mammals tend to become smaller, and the Hobbits may have
been no exception.
The giant Komodo dragons of the island, on the other hand, were selected
for greater size. Reptiles are not as limited by food as mammals, because their