Hobbits flores. Scientists have discovered how the famous “hobbits” from the island of Flores appeared. Hypothesis explaining the safety of the find
Alexander Markov's new book is a fascinating story about the origins and structure of man, based on the latest research in anthropology, genetics and evolutionary psychology. The two-volume book “Human Evolution” answers many questions that have long interested Homo sapiens. What does it mean to be human? When and why did we become human? In what ways are we superior to our neighbors on the planet, and in what ways are we inferior to them? And how can we better use our main difference and advantage - a huge, complex brain? One way is to read this book thoughtfully.
Alexander Markov - Doctor of Biological Sciences, leading researcher at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His book on the evolution of living beings, The Birth of Complexity (2010), became an event in popular science literature and received wide recognition from readers.
7. The main distinguishing feature of “hobbits” - a small brain combined with short stature - according to the authors, is a consequence of microcephaly. The authors report that microcephaly is usually accompanied by a whole range of other abnormalities, of which dwarfism is one of the most common. The extremely high degree of fusion of the cranial sutures, characteristic of the “hobbit” skull, could be the root cause of a whole complex of anomalies, including the small volume of the brain. In particular, the authors note a pronounced asymmetry of the skull, especially its facial part. This asymmetry goes beyond what is considered clinically normal and suggests that the Liang Bua skull belonged to an individual with severe developmental disabilities.
8. The discoverers of the “hobbits” indicated the structural features of the teeth that distinguish their discovery from modern people. The authors analyze these features in detail and show that all of them are found with varying frequency in modern human populations, and some features indicate the proximity of the “hobbit” to the modern Floresian Rampas pygmies.
9. Considering the structure of the postcranial skeleton (that is, all bones not related to the skull), the authors point to a number of features indicating that the type specimen H. floresiensis suffered from severe developmental defects. The postcranial bones of other individuals attributed to the same species are mentioned only in passing by the authors, noting that “they are generally consistent with the idea that the Liang Bua population was dwarfed” and, most importantly, “these bones say nothing about the size skulls of their owners."
In most anthropology textbooks you can read that the chin protrusion is one of the most characteristic distinctive features of Homo sapiens, by which the jaw of a modern person can always be distinguished from the jaw of a Neanderthal or Pithecanthropus. However, among the Rampasas pygmies from the island of Flores there are individuals lacking a chin protuberance. Photo from Jacob et al., 2006.
Many of the arguments listed (especially the third, fourth and seventh) are, in my opinion, very vulnerable to criticism. Nevertheless, the article was a serious blow to the positions of the “optimists.” Undoubtedly, the entire argument of the skeptics will instantly crumble to smithereens if they manage to dig up another small skull with the same features on Flores. But this has not happened yet.
However, in the last 2–3 years, the “optimists” have clearly begun to gain the upper hand. This is evident from the fact that other anthropologists, who have not themselves studied “hobbits,” are increasingly using Homo floresiensis as a material for comparison and a basis for evolutionary hypotheses. New “optimistic” arguments are also being put forward.
In 2007, “optimists” published an article in Science, in which they drew attention to the fact that until now the discussion has been mainly around the structure of the skull and teeth, although the bones of the limbs of primates can also serve as an important source of information about kinship and group affiliation. In particular, the carpal bones Homo sapiens have a number of advanced features not found in other living primates.
The authors showed that these “human” characteristics are also characteristic of our closest fossil relatives: Upper Paleolithic sapiens (Cro-Magnons) and Neanderthals, as well as Homo antecessor- a species considered close to the common ancestor of Neanderthals and sapiens (see below). Because the Homo antecessor lived about 1.0–0.8 million years ago, the authors believe that this complex of carpal features was formed no later than ( Tocheri et al., 2007). Scientists examined three bones of the left wrist belonging to the type specimen Homo floresiensis(instance LB1). The bones were dug up in September 2003, are well preserved and show no signs of pathology.
It turned out that all three bones do not have the advanced features characteristic of sapiens and Neanderthals, and are in the original, primitive state that is observed in chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, australopithecus and habilis.
The authors used for comparison 252 wrist bones of modern people from all over the Earth, including people suffering from various disorders of skeletal development; 117 chimpanzee bones, 116 gorilla bones, 40 orangutan bones, 19 baboon bones, four Upper Paleolithic sapiens bones, 13 Neanderthal bones, three Australopithecus bones and one Habilis bone. In addition, they used extensive literature data on various anomalies in the structure of the wrist that occur in modern humans. Scientists have concluded that the primitive traits observed in Hobbit LB1 cannot be the result of known diseases or developmental abnormalities. In their opinion, the progressive features in the structure of the wrist, characteristic of modern humans, appeared between 0.8 and 1.8 million years ago in the evolutionary lineage, including sapiens, Neanderthals and their common ancestor. As for the “hobbits,” they descended from some more primitive hominids, in whom these characteristics were still in their original, “ape” state, like in the Australopithecines and Habilis.
Skeleton of the hand. The carpal bones preserved in the “hobbit” are highlighted (from left to right: scaphoid, trapezoid, capitate).
Unfortunately, the wrist bones Homo erectus- the probable ancestor of the “hobbits” - have not yet been found.
Another portion of “optimistic” arguments appeared in 2009. Study of the endocrane (cast of the brain cavity) of a single skull Homo floresiensis showed that although the Hobbit's brain size was the same as that of a chimpanzee, its structure had undergone significant reorganization. In particular, the size and shape of some parts of the cortex associated with “higher” mental functions have changed. This is not a monkey brain, but neither is it the brain of a modern human with microcephaly. The discovered features help to understand how the “hobbits” managed to have a fairly high culture with such a small brain, in particular, to make stone tools ( Falk et al., 2009). Archaeological data also indicate that modern people who arrived on Flores about 12 thousand years ago may have adopted some stone processing techniques from the aborigines - the “hobbits” (the age of the found “hobbit” bones, according to the latest data, ranges from 95 to 12 thousand years. Most likely, the “hobbits” lived until the arrival of sapiens) ( Moore et al., 2009).
Important facts that shed light on the origin and kinship of the “hobbits” were obtained during the study of the LB1 foot ( Jungers et al., 2009). In some ways, the “hobbit’s” foot resembles a human one: the big toe is adjacent to the rest (and not opposed to them, like in a chimpanzee); the upper part of the arch is reinforced, which allows you to effectively push off when walking; The metatarsal bones are also similar to human ones in a number of ways. But in other respects the hobbit's foot is very different from ours. First of all, she is too big for a person of her height. In terms of relative foot size, the “hobbit” corresponds to chimpanzees and australopithecines, but not to sapiens. Primitive features also include very long fingers, except for the thumb, which, on the contrary, is shortened (this also brings the “hobbits” closer not to sapiens, but to early hominids). The hobbit foot is well suited for walking on two legs, but it is poorly suited for fast running. For example, its arch does not have a special springing mechanism characteristic of Homo sapiens. Long fingers could be convenient for a measured step, but would be a hindrance when running.
Traces found in Kenya Homo erectus, whose age is 1.43 million years (see above), show that by that time our ancestors already had a completely modern gait and foot structure. Consequently, the evolutionary paths of the ancestors of “hobbits” and modern people most likely diverged earlier than this date (unless the primitive foot developed a second time in hobbits).
Until now, the most likely ancestors of the “hobbits” were considered erectus, which supposedly penetrated Flores 800-900 thousand years ago and gradually shredded, turning into a special dwarf species of people under conditions of island isolation. New data testifies in favor of another version, which was also expressed, but seemed less probable - about the origin of “hobbits” from more primitive hominids, close to Australopithecus or Habilis. This version, by the way, fits better with the small size of the hobbit brain. The patterns of changes in the relative sizes of the brain and body during the evolution of mammals, including primates, are well studied. Based on these patterns, we can conclude that meter-tall dwarfs descended from sapiens should have a brain volume of about 1100 cm 3, from erecti - about 500–650 cm 3. But the brain volume of LB1 is only 400 cm 3, so in this regard, Habilis and Australopithecus are better suited for the role of the ancestors of “hobbits” than erectus or, especially, modern people.
The problem, however, is that neither Australopithecus nor Habilis ever went beyond the borders of their native African continent - at least no facts indicating such a possibility have yet been discovered. To get to distant Flores, primitive African hominids would have had to travel a long distance, including through landscapes to which they would hardly have been able to adapt. How did the ancestors of the “hobbits” get to Flores?
In principle, the ancestors of the “hobbits” could have been early representatives of the human race, intermediate between habilis and typical erectus. It was at this stage of development, about 1.77 million years ago, that people first moved beyond the borders of their native African continent, as evidenced by finds in Dmanisi. But the brain volume of people from Dmanisi was 600–650 cm 3 with a weight of about 40 kg (“hobbits” weighed about 30 kg). Calculations based on the above-mentioned patterns show that the people from Dmanisi were still too “brainy” to claim to be the ancestors of the hobbits.
In an unexpected way, hippos helped solve this problem. True, not modern, but fossil dwarf hippos, which relatively recently (a thousand years ago) lived on the island of Madagascar. In conditions of island isolation, hippos, like the ancestors of the “hobbits” and many other mammals that found themselves in a similar situation, began to shrink. At the same time, the volume of their brain, as it turned out, decreased faster than it was “supposed to” in accordance with previously established patterns. Within a mammalian species, brain volume typically varies in proportion to body volume raised to the power of 0.25 or less; for groups of closely related species this indicator ranges from 0.2 to 0.4. In other words, body volume usually changes much faster than brain volume. That's why relative The brain size of dwarf forms is usually larger than that of large ones. However, in the case of a rapid decrease in body size under conditions of island isolation, this figure, as it turned out, can approach 0.5. This means that insular dwarfism can lead to abnormally rapid brain shrinkage ( Weston, Lister, 2009). If we extrapolate this pattern to the people from Dmanisi and the “hobbits,” it turns out that the former could well be the ancestors of the latter. The resulting reduction in the brain is comparable to what was observed in Madagascar hippos.
Duration of existence and presumed relationships of fossil hominids. The vertical axis shows time in million years ago. Solid arrows show more or less precisely established family ties, dotted arrows show hypothetical ones. Two possible origins shown Homo floresiensis - from early erectuses and from habilis. According to the drawing from Lieberman, 2009.
Under the pressure of new facts, many experts, who until now doubted that “hobbits” are a special kind of people, and not a degenerate dwarf tribe of sapiens, are reconsidering their views. Among them is Daniel Lieberman from Harvard University. According to Lieberman, the most likely ancestors of the “hobbits” today should be considered the early erectuses, close to the people from Dmanisi, however, the Habilis cannot be discounted. It is possible that the early representatives of the human race (Habilis, early erectus and the like) were much more diverse, and their area of distribution was much wider than we know today ( Lieberman, 2009).
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New anatomical evidence confirms that fossilized dwarf hominids discovered in 2004 on the island of Flores are a special species of humans and not microcephalic freaks, as some skeptical scientists believe.
In October 2004 in the magazine Nature a description of a previously unknown species of fossil humans was published - Homo floresiensis, who lived on the island of Flores (Indonesia) less than 20,000 years ago, that is, simultaneously with Homo sapiens. These strange people, nicknamed “hobbits” for their small stature (no more than a meter), had a tiny brain (380 cm 3, like a chimpanzee) and at the same time made quite advanced stone tools. The authors of the unique find pointed out the similarity of “hobbits” with archanthropes ( Homo erectus). In their opinion, the “hobbits” are most likely the crushing descendants of the archanthropes who settled on the island more than 800 thousand years ago (judging by the finds of tools). This point of view seemed to be the most reasonable from the very beginning.
However, other interpretations have also been proposed. Some authors have admitted that Homo floresiensis descended not from erectus, but from more archaic hominids - Australopithecus, the remains of which are still known only from Africa. Others generally argued that the “hobbit” was simply an unusually ugly representative H. sapiens who suffered from severe microcephaly.
The debate continues to this day, as can be seen from the review published in the latest issue of the journal Science. At a meeting of the Paleoanthropological Society in Puerto Rico in late April, Susan Larson of the State University of New York (Stony Brook) reported important new anatomical details of the skeleton. H. floresiensis, confirming the original version of the origin of this species from H. erectus.
The hobbit's humerus, as it turns out, is significantly different from ours. If our head of the humerus is rotated relative to the elbow joint by 145-165 degrees, due to which our elbows are directed back and it is convenient for us to work with our hands in front of us in a “standing” position, then in a hobbit the head of the humerus is rotated only 110 degrees. This feature in itself could complicate weapon activity H. floresiensis, however, it is compensated for by the slightly different shape and orientation of the scapula than ours. Apparently, hobbits could work with their hands as effectively as modern people, but the “comfortable” position of the hands was achieved in a slightly different way, and the hobbits had to hunch a little while working. But they most likely could not throw objects over long distances.
Larson also studied the skeletons of other hominid fossils and found that the only one with a more or less complete skeleton H. erectus, found in Kenya, the humerus is constructed in the same way as in H. floresiensis. Previously, no attention was paid to this. Larson came to the conclusion that the transformation of the shoulder on the way from apes to humans took place in two stages, with the “hobbit” and erectus corresponding to the first of them.
In another presentation at the same meeting, William Jungers, Larson's university colleague, described the results of reconstructing the Hobbit's pelvis. Although early publications reported similarities between the pelvic bones H. floresiensis with those of australopithecus, Jungers discovered a number of advanced characters, which confirms the version of the origin of “hobbits” from H. erectus.
The authors of the sensational find believed that the skeleton they found belonged to a female individual, but later some experts doubted this. Jungers reported that the limb bones of other individuals found near the first skeleton were noticeably smaller in size. This suggests that perhaps this species was sexually dimorphic (men were larger than women). It is possible that the skeleton belonged to a man, and the individual bones of the limbs belonged to women.
Jungers also said that among the bones found there was also a well-preserved foot, which has not yet been properly examined. Its large size is noteworthy: it is possible that the “hobbits” from the island of Flores, like the heroes of Tolkien’s novel, had impressive hairy feet.
In general, as the “hobbits” are studied, the position of skeptics becomes increasingly precarious. However, some of them continue to persist. For example, paleoanthropologist Robert Martin and his colleagues believe that the “hobbit” brain is too small to belong to a full-fledged hominid of this size. “I'm not 100% sure it's microcephaly,” Martin says. “I’m just saying that his brain is still too small.”
The most compelling argument against the "microcephalic" version is that, in addition to the original skeleton, the remains of several more individuals clearly belonging to the same species were discovered in the Liang Bua Cave on the island of Flores. As Jungers rightly points out, Martin actually insists that there was an entire village of microcephalic idiots on the island.
It is curious that even after the discovery of Neanderthals, some scientists tried to prove that these bones did not belong to a special species (or subspecies) of ancient people, but to modern people who suffered from mental retardation. It seems that the situation is repeating itself, and the outcome of the discussion, apparently, will again not be in favor of the “skeptics”.
Miniature hominins that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores about 15 thousand years ago were refused to be considered relatives Homo sapiens.
A study by French scientists provides new evidence of uniqueness Flores hobbits.
The work has been prepared for publication in the Journal of Human Evolution, and The Telegraph briefly reports on it.
Immediately after the discovery of the remains in the Liang Bua cave in 2003, debate broke out among anthropologists whether the creature weighing 25 kilograms was an ordinary person (suffering from Down syndrome or Laron dwarfism) or a representative of an unknown species of Homo.
Antoine Balzeau of the French Museum of Natural History and paleopathologist Philippe Charlier took a new approach to analyzing the hobbit skull. They obtained ultra-high-resolution images of its bone layers and calculated its thickness.
According to scientists, the structure of the skull of Homo floresiensis lacks the main features characteristic of Homo sapiens. In addition, there is nothing in the examined remains that would indicate hereditary genetic diseases associated with dwarfism in humans.
Scientists emphasize that even if their conclusions are accepted as true, the origin of the hobbits will remain unclear. These could be either Homo erectus, who had diminished over hundreds of years of island life, or descendants of a branch of the genus Homo unknown to science.
In 2014, an article was published in the authoritative journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors of which proved that the brain size and height of Flores man were within the normal range for an Austronesian with Down syndrome. This article caused a scandal in the scientific community: anthropologists and paleontologists argued that it was published bypassing normal peer review procedures and did not stand up to objective criticism.
The ancestors of Frodo and Sam from “The Lord of the Rings” could well have been completely real characters - the dwarf people of the Floresians, who became extinct approximately 12 thousand years ago.
And this, of course, is not news. The hypothesis about this has been circulating in scientific circles for a long time, but recently in one of his lectures the famous anthropologist Stanislav Drobyshevsky spoke about it in more detail.
“It is possible that some real events of the distant past of the existence of ancient hominids could be reflected in mythology and folklore, or perhaps vice versa - folklore was reflected in some ideas that people perceive as scientific,” said Stanislav Drobyshevsky.
Let us recall that in 2004, the remains of a very unusual species of hominin, which were called hobbits, were described earlier found on the island of Flores in the Liang Bua cave, which were called hobbits - in honor of the well-known characters of Tolkien. The fact is that the remains belonged to a woman who was less than one and a half meters tall. But this was not a sensation - on Earth, as is known, even today there are quite a lot of very short populations (for example, African or Indonesian pygmies). Archaeologists were struck by something else - the skull of Homo floresiensis, which had a number of features. The main one was the extremely small volume of the brain - only about 400 grams. This is exactly how much a chimpanzee’s brain weighs, and on average even a little more - 400–450 grams. It is also interesting that the remains of hobbits, by anthropological standards, turned out to be very “young” - they are from 95 to 12 thousand years old. Thus, the Floreseans could have lived at a time when our ancestors in the Ancient East had already domesticated the goat, that is, 12 thousand years ago.
Stone tools were also found among the remains of hobbits. It turned out that a creature with a brain weighing 400 grams could make chisels, scrapers and axes from stone. Until now, it was believed that the brain Rubicon was 700–750 grams. The size of the brain below this limit is critical for the manifestation of purely human properties, such as complex communication, the manufacture of stone tools, the use of fire, etc. However, no traces of fire were found in the Liang Bua cave, just as no burials were found - the bones of the Floreseans were scattered in a chaotic manner throughout the cave.
Therefore, the remains of hobbits are very often “attacked”: some groups of scientists have long been attempting to prove that the bones and skulls belong to microcephals (microcephaly is a significant reduction in the size of the skull and, accordingly, the brain with normal sizes of other parts of the body; is accompanied by mental deficiency - from mildly expressed imbecility to idiocy. It is rare, on average in one case per 6–8 thousand births - NS), and not so long ago an article was published where the authors suggested that these are the remains of people with Down syndrome.
However, most scientists are of the opinion that this is not so and we are dealing with the remains of healthy, but, of course, primitive hominids and not similar to us. The main argument is that the remains of not one or two hobbits, but as many as seventeen, were discovered in the cave. It is too unlikely that they all suffered from microcephaly, Down syndrome, etc. The microcephalic population simply could not survive (especially in those days). Most likely, Floreseans are the ancestors of Pithecanthropus, which came here about 1 million years ago from the island of Java. In island conditions, as often happens, hominids were crushed (some living creatures, as we know, in such conditions, on the contrary, “enlarge”, becoming much larger than their ancestors on the continents - NS) and, unfortunately, degraded (probably , due to the conditions on the “paradise” island and the possible absence of predators, as well as the small amount of food - NS).
On the same island of Flores, not far from the Liang Bua cave, there is the village of Rampasasa, where wild tribes of people live, who are also small in stature - about one and a half meters, only slightly taller than hobbits - but quite modern.
It is noteworthy that when archaeologists told local residents about their discovery, they immediately developed their own myth that these hobbits were none other than their ancestors. But the most interesting thing is that ethnographers working on the island recorded a legend of local residents about certain Ebu Gogo, which goes like this. When the ancestors of modern Floresean aborigines, farmers, came to this valley from other parts of the island, they met there some small furry men - Ebu Gogo, who led a very simple lifestyle and spoke a strange chirping language. At first everything went peacefully, and the residents began to communicate with them, exchange food, etc. But then the Ebu Gogo began to steal food and children from the residents, so the aborigines exterminated all the Ebu Gogo, and those who remained were driven into a certain cave and dumped with stones and logs and burned it. This is not the Liang Bua Cave, local residents even showed it to scientists, but while it really remains littered, it has not yet been excavated. All this is presented by the aborigines not as some kind of myth, but as a historical fact, which, as they say, happened just before the Europeans arrived on the island. The latter arrived there around the 16th century. Of course, among anthropologists and ethnographers the version immediately spread that Ebu Gogo were the same hobbits who were found in the Liang Bua cave.
The most amazing thing is that that other ethnographers working with local populations in other places found that the same version of the legend exists, for example, on the island of Sulawesi, which, like Flores, belongs to Indonesia. And also in Taiwan and Sri Lanka. Thus, the aborigines of Sri Lanka told ethnographers the following legend. When their ancestors came to a certain valley, they met there shaggy little men who spoke a strange chirping language. At first they communicated with them and exchanged food, but then they began to steal food and children, and the ancestors of the aborigines drove them into a cave and burned them. Meanwhile, from Sri Lanka to Flores, as is known, there is a huge distance, at least half the width of the Indian Ocean. How could the Floresian legend (or vice versa, the Sri Lankan tradition reach the inhabitants of the island of Flores) reach the local residents?
Scientists have put forward several explanations for this. The most incredible of them is that the events repeated themselves. Another is that this is simply a mythological story going around the world (as mentioned above, a similar legend, with slight variations, is found among the aborigines of Sulawesi and Taiwan; perhaps the same myths exist in other places in Indonesia). True, the legends, as we remember, date back to the arrival of Europeans - the 16th century, and the youngest dating of the remains from the Liang Bua cave is 12 thousand years, which is not quite the same thing. But it is possible that later remains of hobbits exist in other parts of the island of Flores (although in a tropical climate the remains are very poorly preserved, so finding them will not be easy). It is also possible, of course, that the events described above actually took place on the island of Flores, and then the legends about them spread to other islands. True, the local residents of Sri Lanka - the Veddas - lead a very isolated lifestyle. Therefore, they must have received such a legend a very, very long time ago, certainly not in the 16th century. There is also a version according to which this myth is widespread and has no special relation to reality. And when people, knowing him, came to Flores and met the hobbits there, they put the terrible story, as they say, into practice: the discoverers of the island already knew for sure that when they met the little furry men, they needed to be driven into a cave and burned.
It is also possible that such a mythological plot could have arisen when people first encountered lemurs (on the island of Madagascar, where there is also a legend about a certain small furry man, however, this is where the similarity of the plot ends), monkeys or very short tribes that, like known to exist to this day.
MOSCOW, April 21 - RIA Novosti. A large-scale study of all known remains of the mysterious "hobbits" from the island of Flores has confirmed that these unusual people are descendants of ancient skilled people, and not degenerate Cro-Magnons, says a paper published in the Journal of Human Evolution.
"Our analysis has revealed a clear connection between Hobbits, Homo sapiens, and other primitive hominids. We are 99% confident that they are not related to Homo erectus and later species of humans, and 100% confident that they are not are degenerate Homo sapiens,” said Michael Lee from Flinders University in Adelaide (Australia).
Was there a hobbit?
The meter-tall remains of ancient humans, almost immediately dubbed "hobbits" by the press, were found in Liang Bua Cave on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, and unveiled to the public in October 2004 by a team of paleontologists led by the late Michael Morewood.
Morwood and his colleagues announced their discovery as a new species, named Homo floresiensis. Initially, paleontologists believed that the Floressian people were descendants of Homo erectus, the so-called “Java man,” whose remains were found on the island of Java in the late 19th century.
These people appeared in Southeast Asia about a million years ago, and thanks to the phenomenon of so-called "island dwarfism", as the discoverers of the "hobbits" assumed, they gradually degenerated and turned into "hobbits", whose brains were three times smaller than those of modern Homo sapiens.
On the other hand, the lack of new fossils has led many scientists to believe that the "hobbits" were ordinary Cro-Magnons who became dwarfs due to congenital deformities such as microcephaly, Laron syndrome and cretinism. Only recently have paleontologists found the first evidence that the ancestors of the “hobbits” appeared on the island of Flores at least 700 thousand years ago, and their descendants disappeared 50 thousand years ago, long before man arrived in Indonesia.
Lee and his colleagues claim that "hobbits" actually have an even older ancestor than Homo erectus, having comprehensively studied all the bones and skull fragments of these mysterious creatures known to date.
In Search of the Hobbit
The authors of the article checked whether this is actually true. To do this, they compared the size and structure of 133 different points on the skull, jaws, teeth and bones of the hands and feet of the “hobbits” and all their putative ancestors, and built “family trees” for each combination of them.
As it turned out, the “hobbits” and skilled people were closest to each other - in this case, the tree of their evolution was the most realistic and closest to reality. All other combinations gave rise to combinations that were impossible from the point of view of simple logic or already known paleontological data on the development of human ancestors.
Interestingly, the same data pointed to the possibility of an even more ancient origin of the “hobbits” - according to Lee, the ancestors of the “hobbits” could have separated from the general evolutionary tree of humanity even before the first Homo habilis arose. In this case, the ancestors of the “hobbits” are relatives of australopithecines or other ancient hominids not belonging to the genus Homo.
This discovery, as Lee admits, does not yet allow us to understand where the metaphorical "Hobbitania" is located, the homeland of these mysterious people. It is possible that they actually turned into dwarfs after arriving on the island, but nothing excludes the possibility that the “hobbits” became “hobbits” even before traveling to their new homeland.
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