Floresque person (Homo floresiensis): description

In 2003, the world circled the news of a sensational discovery made by archaeologists on the Indonesian island of Flores. In one of the natural caves, called Liang Bois, remains were found of a previously unknown to science dwarf species of ancient people, characterized by an unusually small growth of not more than one meter, and an astonishingly small volume of the brain. This new species was called Homo floresiensis, or otherwise - Flores man.

The first findings of the expedition

This amazing discovery was preceded by a long and laborious work. A joint Indonesian-Australian expedition led by Mike Morvud and Panjit Sudjono began excavating the island of Flores in 2001. The cave of Liang Bois was not chosen by chance, because Sudjoon worked with a different group of scientists, and some of the upper cultural layers were discovered by then.

Already the first year, spent on Flores, brought a lot of curious finds. Deeper into ever more ancient layers of deposits, archaeologists have discovered a large number of bones of various ancient animals that died out tens of thousands of years ago. Among them were fragments of skeletons of stegodons - distant relatives of modern elephants, who disappeared from the face of the earth twelve thousand years ago, as well as the famous Komod dragons - the largest of the existing lizards, reaching a length of three meters.

Remains of the ancient inhabitant of the cave

In addition, there were also obvious signs of the presence of ancient people in these places . This was evidenced by the remains of stone tools dating back to the Paleolithic era, whose age was at least two and a half million years. In the same year, the first fragment of one of the ancient inhabitants of the cave of Liang Bois hit the hands of scientists. It was clearly a radial bone that was part of the forearm, but it was unusually small and strangely bent.

More discoveries, and together with them, mysteries brought 2003 to researchers. In January, an incomplete skeleton, belonging to an adult female, was found, but also differed remarkably small in size. According to experts, his age was about eighteen thousand years. In addition to other bones, the well-preserved skull of the ancient inhabitant of the cave became the property of scientists. Even at first glance, everyone was impressed by the small volume of the skull, and consequently, of the brain that was included in it.

Working with the material found

A certain difficulty in working with bones was due to the fact that, due to soil moisture, they were not petrified, but rather a loose and pliable texture. I had to be extra careful. To preserve them, a special preparation consisting of quick-drying glue and nail polish was developed and made on site. It is not difficult to guess that such a technology could have occurred to a woman. And indeed, the inventor of this method was Thomas Sutikina - a representative of the Indonesian archaeological group.

Hypothesis, explaining the safety of the find

In the cave of Liang Bois, ritual burials have been performed for thousands of years, as evidenced by the large number of human bones found there, painted with ocher and lying mixed with ornaments made from sea shells. However, the small man was clearly not one of them. Surprise also caused how well preserved his skeleton. Even the joints of some bones were not violated.

According to scientists, this preservation could be explained by the fact that this relic hominid (the term used to designate the family of higher primates, to which the person belongs) after death was immersed in a shallow body of water or simply in liquid mud. This saved him from wild carrion-eating animals.

If this assumption is true, then the Floressian is not the only find that has survived as a result of such a "conservation". The same fate was shared by the remains of the Australopithecus of Afar, found in Ethiopia, whose age is three million years old, found in Kenya, and the bones of a boy who lived one and a half million years later.

Additional information about the find

In the following year, 2004, the cave gave scientists new finds of the bones of small people, which allowed them to sufficiently recreate their appearance and more accurately establish the dating. If at first it was believed that this relic hominid lived on earth from 12 to 95 thousand years ago, a more detailed study of the remains using radioisotope analysis made it possible to narrow the time range and limit it to a period of 60 to 100 thousand years.

Characteristically, very primitive tools made of stone were also discovered. This indicates that the Floressian was already able to process the natural materials available to him for use in hunting and construction.

Disputes about the name of the species found

After the scientists came to the conclusion that they had discovered a new biological species, its representatives were immediately given the nickname of the hobbits. So called fairy-tale characters from the work of the famous English writer John Ruel Tolkien "The Lord of the Rings". In accordance with this, a small man was to be called Homo hobbitus.

However, a number of scientists, among whom there was a prominent Australian paleontologist Peter Brown, raised doubts as to whether it could be attributed to the genus Homo, that is, to humans. The reason for doubt was the characteristic features that this fossil species possessed. Especially everyone was confused by the unusually small growth and unprecedented volume of the brain - about three times smaller than that of an ordinary person. Personally, Brown suggested for the find the name Sundantropus. However, as a result of lengthy discussions, Homo floresiensis, the Floresque man, was mentioned above.

Sensation, flying around the world

For the first time information about the amazing discovery made in the cave of Liang Bois, appeared in 2004 in the journal Nature. Before that, she had been kept secret for almost a year, since her appearance in the media could prevent publication in this purely scientific publication. However, immediately after the appearance of the journal number, the floresque (hobbit) person became one of the main themes of seven thousand newspapers and magazines and about one hundred thousand Internet sites. About him was even filmed a popular science film commissioned by the famous National Geographic television channel.

Trying to establish the truth

As already mentioned above, around the remains found on the island of Flores, from the first days of heated debate between scientists. They were in charge of whether it is legitimate to assert that before them is a fossil dwarf species of people previously unknown to science, or it is the result of pathological changes that were for one reason or another the ordinary primitive people known as Homo sapiens.

To answer this question, the leading Indonesian expert in the field of paleoanthropology, Teuku Jakob, took all the bones found from the research center in Jakarta and placed them in his laboratory. He managed to do this thanks to a personal contact with Panjit Sudjano, who was one of the leaders of the expedition. The scientific world was waiting for the result of research, but within three months the famous scientist remained silent.

Scandal in the scientific world

Finally, the patience of his colleagues dried up, and they began to demand that Jakob grant access to the remains of the rest of the scientists and stop this practice of monopoly, which extended only to him and his assistants. As a result, the bones were returned to Jakarta, but not in full and partially damaged. A major scandal broke out, since at that time the person of the Flores still figured on the front pages of the newspapers, and the matter received a great public response.

The result was a ban on the Indonesian authorities to continue excavations in the cave of Liang Bois. On this occasion, the world media have speculated that the authorities' refusal to admit scientists to the location of relict hominid is due to their fear for the reputation of Jakob, who was considered the pride of the national science.

The fact that he was an ardent opponent of the claim that the remains belonged to a new unknown species, and since the continuation of the work could bring data refuting his point of view, and thereby undermine the authority of Indonesian science, it was decided not to risk. The study was resumed only in 2007.

Continuation of work

After the events described above, the information on the excavations did not penetrate the media for a long time, and only in 2015 it became known that the new international expedition is working on the island of Flores. This time, she explores the previously discovered cave, connected by an underground passage with Liang Bois. It is assumed that it should contain the earliest deposits. According to scientists, by ancient people this cave could be used as a warehouse and a possible escape route in case of unforeseen danger.

Some external differences Homo floresiensis

As stated above, the main distinguishing features of a florist person are his small growth and a meager size of the skull, which also differs in its structure from that belonging to the intelligent person. For example, there is no chin in the skull. In general, the shape and proportions of the skeleton, as well as its individual parts, allow its owner to be attributed to the lower forms of primitive people, such as Australopithecus.

Soon after the publications related to the discovery of a florian man, attempts were made to recreate his appearance. Many leading artists and sculptors, specializing in the field of anthropology, took part in them. The first reconstruction belongs to Peter Schuten, who created the drawing on the basis of careful study of the skeleton of this individual.

After him, his voluminous work was presented by sculptor Elizabeth Deine. She owns a series of figures exhibited in 2007 in the Parisian Museum of Man and represent an evolutionary reconstruction of what hominids have turned from the most ancient forms known to science to modern people.

In 2012, a new step was taken in this direction. Dr. Susan Hayes of Australia, using the methods used in forensic medicine, restored the face of Flo - a name given to a female whose remains were found in the cave of Liang Bois. Following her, a group of researchers from New York City produced a scrupulous computer analysis of the skull. The general conclusion was that, for a number of reasons, the Flores man is close to a reasonable person, and therefore the hypothesis of pathological changes that caused his unusual appearance should be considered invalid.