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On a tropical island that's part of modern-day Indonesia, archaeologist have uncovered a remarkable find: a bone fragment belonging to an archaic adult hominin that stood a diminutive three and a half feet tall.: physical evidence of a then-unknown and now-extinct cousin, living on the Flores Island of Indonesia as recently as 18,000 years ago.
Archaeologists have theorized that these hobbits were originally descended from even smaller hominins that underwent the process of island dwarfism. Basically, when an animal finds itself on an island or a patch of remote land, they become genetically isolated and adapt to become smaller in size due to less food or fewer predators.
Researchers have determined that this new discovery, which appears to be an arm bone belonging to an adult, is nine to 16 percent smaller than previously-discovered remains ofThe remains make for a fascinating what-if about the family tree of humankind. "We think it was destiny to become clever," University of Tokyo anthropologist and study co-author Yousuke KaifuOvertime, these isolated beings became smaller, as seen in this new discovery, before dying out tens of thousands of years ago. Any subsequent findings on Flores Island will hopefully fill out more the puzzle ofBeyond the disc0very itself, the research should hammer home that the state of being hominin is in perpetual flux.
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