Finding the Hobbit

Chris Turney, an expert in radiocarbon analysis explores the discovery of pygmy-sized human species which was found on the Indonesian island of Flores and was nicknamed as Hobbit. Chris and his colleague, Michael Bird, developed a new preparation method with which they confirmed that 'early' humans had definitely arrived 48,000 years ago in Australia. This technique helped to recover a complete hominid skeleton at Flores, from a depth of 5.9 meters, associated with high concentrations of stone artefacts and evidence for intensive hunting of Stegodon. The remains indicated a pygmy-sized human species with a small brain capacity and ancient features including distinctive teeth, a sloping forehead, and long arms. This species was named Homo floresiensis, more affectionately known as 'the Hobbit'. The age of the skeleton was only around 18,000 calendar years, while the most recent bones immediately below the ash were dated to just 13,000 years ago. Out of all the early human remains so far discovered, the Hobbit's shape fits most closely to the discovery of Georgia, which suggested the first migration out of Africa.