New human species discovered

[Ionas]

At last there is some very exciting news instead of the constant iraq and bush vs kerry reports.
On the indonesian island Felosa the complete skeleton of a small sized female has been discovered.
It is a whole new species next to the neanderthaler and human sapiens unknown so far. About a meter high with a brain with the size of a grapefruit.
They made tools and used fire. And might have died out 12000 years ago when a vulcano errupted.
The Homo Floresiens.

[faldrok]

Err, they know all of this from ONE Skeleton found...? Did she have a note around her neck(upper vertebrae/spine) that said, \"We made tools, and used pyro energy for our heating needs and food making.\"?

Btw, did they jump to conclusions or study it for a while? It could of simply been a a deformed midget. Not being rude, but it could have been. Do you have a link to the story somewhere? haven\'t heard this news yet.

[ArcaneFalcon]

I have a feeling they will find out this one is a monkey, midgit, child, or pig, just like every other \"new human species\" found in the past 2 centuries.

[Karyuu]

What\'s the source of your information, Ionas? ;)

[Myrtl]

You....dont you remember

[dannythompson]

Found the link myself, translate with babbelfish or w/e you like to use, its in german. Doesn\'t make it anymore real however. Probally fake.

**edit** durr heres the link http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2004/10_oktober/27/buitenland/1027_prehistorisch_mini_mens_1930.xml

[ArcaneFalcon]

Oh really?  I found my link from www.shacknews.com .  Great site btw, was in the evening reading.  Here is the link to the article that shacknews gave.

[Ionas]

Im surprised you hadn\'t heard of this yet... Was first item in the news here yesterday.

They found about 7 skeletons i believe. And yes they did study it (at least there supposed to as antropoligists)

Here are some links (first id found only a dutch source and was in a hurry):

http:// [URL]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3948165.stm [/url]

(...)
Legendary creatures

Even more intriguing is the fact that Flores\' inhabitants have incredibly detailed legends about the existence of little people on the island they call Ebu Gogo.

The islanders describe Ebu Gogo as being about one metre tall, hairy and prone to \"murmuring\" to each other in some form of language. They were also able to repeat what islanders said to them in a parrot-like fashion.

\"There have always been myths about small people - Ireland has its Leprechauns and Australia has the Yowies. I suppose there\'s some feeling that this is an oral history going back to the survival of these small people into recent times,\" said co-discoverer Peter Brown, an associate professor of archaeology at New England.

The last evidence of this human at Liang Bua dates to just before 12,000 years ago, when a volcanic eruption snuffed out much of Flores\' unique wildlife.

Yet there are hints H. floresiensis could have lived on much later than this. The myths say Ebu Gogo were alive when Dutch explorers arrived a few hundred years ago and the very last legend featuring the mythical creatures dates to 100 years ago.

But Henry Gee, senior editor at Nature magazine, goes further. He speculates that species like H.floresiensis might still exist, somewhere in the unexplored tropical forest of Indonesia.
(...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3960001.stm

(...)
Q: Why is this discovery so exciting?

In short, it could change our understanding of human evolution. For example, we tend to think that complex tool making comes with big brains. But LB1 had a tiny brain and yet made quite sophisticated tools. This will probably cause researchers to re-think the behavioural complexity and capabilities of our small brained ancestors.

And, according to conventional wisdom, humans have walked the Earth alone since Neanderthals died out about 27,000 years ago.

But if LB1 was alive until 12,000 years ago, what other hominids also shared our planet? This discovery has reignited the debate.
(...)

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2004-10-27-cavedwarf_x.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,2763,1337717,00.html?gusrc=rss

http:// [URL]http://www.nature.com/news/specials/flores/index.html [/url]

Of course it might be a fake, but at the moment it seems to be the real thing. That its such strange stuff doesnt make it untrue

[Karyuu]

I love this kind of news :] What I find most amazing is the frequent references to legends - very detailed legends - of the little people. The interview I saw on this discovery a while ago made strong references to those legends. If the little people died out 13,000 years ago, that means these stories were passed on, fairly accurately, for what - a thousand generations?

Talking of the 13,000 year date, this places them right in the Atlantis pseudo-time-frame. The fringe \"science\" sites must be having parties up and down the land :P

[Syzerian]

OMFG theres one of those new human things 2 houses down, its like 5 years old!
This will just be another annoying person who just jumps to conclusions without any real investigation. wow look there is a piece of metal sticking out of the ground, it might be an atom bomb.

[Dameon]

I don\'t see why this isn\'t possible. Even if it is not of the Homo genus and its just a smart ape that walked around on 2 legs, its still a big discovery.

[Karyuu]

Originally posted by Syzerian
This will just be another annoying person who just jumps to conclusions without any real investigation.

Look who\'s talking.

[Syzerian]

Could always be one of those random one in a million genetic mutations like that monkey that had minimal hair and walked and acted like a human. There is some scary stuff that can happen with DNA

[Waylayen]

So, the hobbits did exist
Did Tolkien know something the rest of the world didn\'t?
Will they find a ring in that cave?
Will sauron return?

[Adeli]

Where were these skeletons found? I only saw the end of a report on the BBC, cable news channels are so much better than Australian news channels, they are too celebrity based.

If it was near the Azores that would be interesting, Atlantis is rumoured to have been where the Azores are... and the time frame fits in to what people \"know\" of the lost country.