Homo floresiensis Flashcards
Where was Homo floresiensis found?
Liang Bua cave in Flores (a small island in Indonesia)
Flores was isolated even when sea levels were low. So how could a hominin reach an isolated island?
They could only have arrived using water transport like bamboo rafts around 1 mya
Why do people think H floresiensis had language?
The idea of H. floresiensis using advanced technology and cooperation on a modern human level has prompted the discoverers to hypothesize that H. floresiensis almost certainly had language
What is LB1?
The H. floresiensis holotype
The most complete H. floresiensis fossil found to date discovered in 2003.
fossils consist of an almost-complete skull and partial skeleton that include her legs, hands, feet, part of her pelvis,
Female, 3ft 5, brain about the size of a chimps (400cc) or australopithecines, large brow ridges, teeth big for skull
Define holotype
a single type specimen upon which the description and name of a new species is based.
What evidence is there of H. floresiensis using tools that weren’t primitive despite their small brain size?
Evidence of butchering and use of fire
Cutmarks were found on the bones of pygmy elephants
Komodo dragons, rats and bat bones were found on the floor where there was a clear use of fire
What reasons are there for dismissing the pathological theory?
There were cranial and postcranial similarities with larger bodied hominins.
What is the most accepted theory for why H. floresiensis was so small?
They thought a population of Homo erectus moved into the island (which was difficult to reach because it was separated by a deep channel of sea). So the island was unique enough to cause island dwarfism (like in the pygmy elephant).
What potential diseases could have caused H. floresiensis to be small?
1) Microcephaly
2) Laron syndrome
3) Cretinism
There were many specimens found in the cave. Surely this would suggest it was a new species and not pathological. What is the argument against this?
They may have only buried diseased people in the cave.
More remains were unearthed at Mata Menge in central Flores. Describe them.
1) Excavated in 2014 from an early-middle Pleistocene site
2) The mandible and teeth found were similar in dimensions and morphological characteristics to those of H. floresiensis. But the mandibular first molar retains a more primitive condition.
3) Fossils found here are even smaller than the two individuals in Liang Bua cave
4) The Mata Menge fossils are derived compared with Australopithecus and H. habilis, and so tend to support the view that H. floresiensis is a dwarfed descendent of early Asian H. erectus.
Why do we associate the tools found on Flores with H. floresiensis?
It is such a difficult island to get to so it is unlikely that another hominin made the tools 1mya.
Why do some people think H. floresiensis may have survived up until the 1900s?
There were legends about small humanoids on the island of Flores (ebu gogo or orang pendek).
Widely believed to have been present at the time of the arrival of the first Portugese ships.
There are reports as late as 1900 so what they saw could be H. floresiensis. But some people claim to have seen a yeti so you can’t take them too seriously.
Describe the cranium of H. floresiensis.
Similar in shape to African or Georgian H. erectus. s.l. or even H. habilis but not later Asian ones.
What are some features of mandibles of H. floresiensis that supports the theory of them deriving from H. erectus?
Two mandibles found: LB1 in 2003 and LB6 in 2004. Both are small. Both do not have a chin. Both are slightly V-shaped. Both have multiple mental foramina like in H. erectus, not found in H. sapiens.
