Homo Floresiensis - the Hobbit

A. C. H., was discovered in the loft space above the office of the Keeper of Zoology—the office Hinton had occupied from 1936 to 1945. This was the first concrete evidence implicating Hinton in the Piltdown hoax (Gardiner, 2003). Contained in the trunk were x teeth similarly stained to the materials discovered at Piltdown I, while several other materials, such as elephant and hippopotami teeth and bone fragments, had been whitened similar in fashion to the ‘cricket bat’ found at the Piltdown II site; the cricket bat having been made form an elephant femur. Hinton had experimented with bone and tooth staining (De Groote et al., 2016) predominantly staining them with iron to match the gravels of a Pleistocene era (Gardiner, 2003)… Also among Hinton’s effects, were eight human teeth that had been stained with iron, chromium, and manganese (Gardiner & Currant, 1996), similar to those of the Piltdown site. When the fluorine dating method was implemented this further incriminated Hinton as the findings from the Piltdown I site evidenced “a recent ape jaw and canine had been artificially modified, stained and planted at Piltdown I, along with parts of a similarly stained recent human skull” (De Groote, 2016, p. 4). The method Hinton practiced (evidenced by the findings in his trunk) was unique to him—a signature—therefore, implicating him as the Piltdown

The importance of the research being done based on this find is explained within this same article in a quote from Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum, London saying, “A find like this does make us question the trees people have built up of human evolution”(Noble, 2002). Not only is finding this skull phenomenal, but the implications it holds are tremendous. The idea that one fossil such as this can change the way we have thought about human evolution is a huge deal that deserves much research and even much speculation and dispute.

The discovery of the remains of an apparently miniature hominin species (catalogued as Lb1) on the island of Flores has sparked debate throughout the archaeological community. This species of hominin is unique in a number of aspects and appears contradictory to trends in archaeological evidence and theories about the development of modern humans in that area of the world.

The Non fictitious World of J.R.R Tolkien When it comes to nonfiction, facts and tell-tale events take hold of the book, leaving nothing but cold hard realities. Whether it is because of the gritty truths that many face or repetitive information presented on a page by page basis, what steers most people away is the lack of imagination. That is exactly why I chose to read Master of Middle-Earth, the fiction of the ever-creative master of nonfiction himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. This book gave me the grand idea of how to get around the dreadful terrors of fiction by finding one about the written fantasies of The Lord of the Rings and to a lesser, but still marvelous extent, The Hobbit.

Three recent fossil findings believed to be hominin ancestors have been selected for description and any controversy surrounding their discovery will be discussed. The three fossils are: Homo floresiensis, Homo rudolfensis and Kenyanthropus

“How old is the oldest human fossil?,” If you had said about 700,000 years, you would probably have been right until just recently that is, “The September 1998 issue of Discover magazine”, reports that Ernesto Abbate, a geology professor from Florence, Italy, has just discovered the fossilized skull and teeth of a humanlike creature who might have lived, as far back as, one million years ago. Calling this creature Buia Man after the city in northeastern Africa where the remains were found. Prof. Abbate thinks he has discovered the earliest fossil that displays physical features associated with Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. Moreover, Buia Man says, Prof. Abbate also shows physical

A new species of hominids was found on Flores, the fossils show the race to have a tiny frame and small brain. These hobbits seem to have existed tens of thousands of years ago and are even thought have coincided in the same time with the early humans. Unfortunately,  the discovery

advantages to open new opportunities for the early primates that allowed to crack up bones and nuts for food. Likewise, these tools were both found with Australopithecus boisei that shared the same terrain during the same time period with the Homo habilis. “If australopithecines were equally skillful, then [the explanation that there is an association with intelligence and tool making would] fail” (Lewin and Foley 293). These tools both found with the Australopithecines and homo species pushed new theories into action about how humans succeeded into what they are currently. Also, one very unusual specimen was found in the island of Flores. A new species that taught that scientific community to reevaluate the human evolution and how they became

The second significant fossil find was dated by using the ages of lava flow above and below the fossils. She uses the bone structure to describe how the specimen would move about. The evidence is pretty believable because the author offers logical support. The support was also diverse and well thought out it being clear none of the information was plagiarized. My Anthropology teacher from last semester at UTSA has gone into detail about our different ancient ancestors. The author didn’t have a counter argument she did say that there is some controversies behind a fossil find included in the article. It is a little hard to tell when the author is talking about the two main fossil finds or similar ones. She does have good support for her argument even though it is a little hard to tell what she is referring

The discovery of Homo floresiensis occurred of the coast of Indonesia on one of the Wallecean Islands called Flores. The dig site which Homo floresiensis was discovered is called Liang Bua or “cool cave”. Father Theodore Verhoeven was the first to report and publish that stone tools were found in central Flores at

Many fossils of this species have been dated with various methods. One such was by sequencing mitochondrial DNA from a femur bone found at the Sima de los Huesos ("pit of bones") in northern Spain by Svante Paabo, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. After sequencing, researchers compared the result with genetic information from Neanderthals and Denisovans and dated them to over 300,000 years (Meyer 2013).

It cannot be denied that, in at least some areas, the invention and progression of technology has benefitted the human race. With the growing industrialization of the world in the last centuries the lives of many people have been made easier. But, this growth of technology is not without its consequences and people are not without their concerns. While industrialization has had its benefits, the environmental cost of this progress is immense, and the impact it has on nature can be hard to swallow. It may seem like talk of the environment is something to be left to scientists or activists specializing in that particular field, but they are

There are certain books that have the ability to shift the reader’s perception of the world permanently. These are the classics: Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, the list goes on. Each of these books carries qualities that have withstood the test of time, that resonate with the readers even today. One of book that has not yet received its status as a classic is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. However, its powerful messages, deep meaning, and appeal to a wide audience make it a book that every student in the Honors Program should read.

The Homo floresiensis was discovered on the Island of Flores, Indonesia. According to the Australian Museum the human remains can range from being 100 000 to 60 000 years old. They also stated that the Homo floresiensis’s tools, which can date back from anywhere to 190 000 to 50 000 years ago, indicating that they lived alongside the Neanderthals, Denisovans and the Homo Sapiens. In addition it suggests that they lived at Liang Bua, a cave where the remans were found, during this time period. The Homo floresiensis was nicknamed “the hobbit” as they only stood around 3.5 feet and also had a tiny brain. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History proposed that these traits may have occurred due to the long-term isolation on a small island

The first fossil was found in 1960 when a team led by scientists Louis and Mary Leakey uncovered the fossilized remains of a unique early human at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.