5th World Conference of Science Journalists

 Uncovering the hobbit, Homo floresiensis [87:43m]: Download

PRODUCER/CHAIR: Paul Willis

SPEAKERS: Deborah Smith, Chris Turney, Bert Roberts

SESSION REPORT: The Hobbit saga continues

by Piyaporn Wongruang

A new round of excavations in the so-called Hobbit cave will be resumed in the hope that it will end the lasting controversies in the human evolution scientist community.

Dr Chris Turney, a scientist from Australia’s University of Wollongong, said excavation will resume between June and July at the Indonesian cave where they originally found the remains of the new species of modern human Homo florensiensis, now dubbed the Hobbit because of its dwarf-like characteristics.

Dr Turney joined his colleague, Dr Richard Roberts, and the Sydney Morning Herald’s science editor Deborah Smith in this session, Uncovering the Hobbit

In 2003 the team first discovered the remains of skeletons and skulls, which were relatively contemporary — around 18,000 years old up to nearly 100,000 years — and relatively smaller, when compared to other designated remains including Homo erectus and Neanderthals.

The first set of remains was discovered in Liang Bua Cave on Flores Island of Indonesia. The team believed that it was a woman about a meter tall in height.

A few years later, the species drew much criticism, or verbal bombarding, from some scientists in the field, and even from those once worked on the same team. They claimed this species had some disorder that made their skull relatively small. Therefore it was not a new species. Dr. Turney is working on carbon dating these remains.

“It would be lovely to find another example. If there was another complete skeleton, it would help demonstrate that, yes, this is a new species,” said Dr Turney, acknowledging that such the skeleton was rare.

Depending on available funding, the team plans to go deeper into the back of the cave where they have already found piles of bones that have not yet been identified.

Collaborating researchers have also been working on different sites including the Western side of the island and Sulawesi.