Hobbits Were Wiped Out When They Met Humans Millennia Earlier Than Believed

The Hobbits, or Homo floresiensis, which were an unknown, human-like species just three feet tall and weighing 75 pounds, were probably slain by humans, says a new study.

The hobbits, or dwarf-like hominoids were found first in 2003 at the Liang Bua cave site on Flores, an Indonesian island. Both species were thought to live alongside each other till about 11 centuries ago.

However, the newer excavations show that the "hobbits," who were earlier thought to be humans afflicted with either dwarfism, Down's syndrome or a similar disorder, got wiped out 50,000 years ago.

Earlier, the scientists had analysed the chemical makeup of the soil around the fossils. It is now revealed that it was not completely accurate, as the soil that was examined to analyze the date of the Hobbits were not evenly deposited.

"At the time of the initial discovery, not enough of the older deposits had been exposed, and this led to an error in the interpretation of how the dates obtained at that time applied to the sediments that contained the hobbit remains," said Matthew Tocheri of Lakehead University in Canada.

In the current study, the scientists focused on the back of the cave, not the central and eastern walls.

Apart from expanding the excavation site, Tocheri's team used dating and infrared stimulated luminescence, apart from a number of other methods to disclose that the skeletal remains went back from 60,000 to 100,000 years old. The artifacts or simple stone tools that remained were only 50,000 to 190,000 years old.

"The youngest Hobbit skeletal remains occur at 60,000 years ago but evidence for their simple stone tools continues until 50,000 years ago. After this there are no more traces of these humans," co-researcher Maxime Aubert said.

"Homo floresiensis seems to have disappeared soon after our species reached Flores, suggesting it was us who drove them to extinction," he explained.

"These results are tantalizingly close to the earliest evidence for modern humans in the region, which might suggest a causal link to the subsequent disappearance of H. floresiensis," said Tom Higham, an archaeological scientist at the University of Oxford.

However, more studies are needed to confirm the research.

"They might have retreated to more remote parts of Flores, but it's a small place and they couldn't have avoided our species for long. I think their days were numbered the moment we set foot on the island," said co-researcher Adam Brumm.

"It's a smoking gun for modern human interaction, but we haven't yet found the bullet," said co-lead researcher Richard Roberts, a geochronologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia.

The latest findings were published in the March 30 issue of the journal Nature.