Evolution Research - General Evolution News

Chicago, Illinois - What may well turn out to be the definitive work in a debate that has been raging in palaeo-anthropology for two years will be published in the November 2006 issue of The Anatomical Record.

The new research comprehensively and convincingly makes the case that the small skull discovered in Flores, Indonesia, in 2003 does not represent a new species of hominid, as was claimed in a study published in the journal Nature in 2004. Instead, the skull is most likely that of a small-bodied modern human who suffered from a genetic condition known as microcephaly, which is characterized by a small head.

'It's no accident that this supposedly new species of hominid was dubbed the 'Hobbit;'' said Robert R. Martin, PhD, Curator of Biological Anthropology at the Field Museum and lead author of the paper. 'It is simply fanciful to imagine that this fossil represents anything other than a modern human.' The new study is the most wide-ranging, multidisciplinary assessment of the problems associated with the interpretation of the 18,000-year-old Flores hominid yet to be published. [Evolution, Science, Homo floresiensis, Paleo, Fossil]

Continued at "Compelling evidence demonstrates that 'Hobbit' fossil does not represent a new species of hominid"
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This is an updated (and corrected) news release to "Flores' Hobbits Update: New hominid species may be early version of Homo sapiens"

See "Re: Homo floresiensis - 'No Hobbits in this Shire'"

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