On the Scientific American blog, science writer Kate Wong brings us up-to-date on the Flores Man hominid discovery. It was about two years ago now that skeletal material dating between 12,000 and 50,000 years ago were recovered from a cave site in Indonesia. The skeleton is thought to represent a dwarf version of Homo erectus by the archaeologists who discovered it, Michael Morwood and R.P Soejono. Wong reports that there are papers are in the works arguing that the so-called Hobbit may not actually be a new species, but rather a case of pathology. Whatever Happened to the Hobbit?: BLOG: SciAm Observations
If you need a refresher course, you can find two reports on the Flores excavations posted here:
The Little Lady of Flores
Further Fossil Finds from Flores
and there has been extended discussion on the Bulletin Board as well:
Hobbit Controversy Continues
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