The discovery of hobbit fossils implies that small humans inhabited Indonesian islands 700,000 years ago.
Twenty years ago, scientists uncovered bones of an early human species that stood around 3 1/2 feet tall, earning them the nickname hobbits.
A new study reveals that hobbits' forebears were even somewhat shorter. "We didn't expect to discover people of smaller size from this kind of old site," said Yousuke Kaifu, co-author of the research, which was released on Tuesday in the journal Nature.
The initial hobbit fossils date back between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago. The latest fossils were discovered in a place named Mata Menge, roughly 45 miles from the cave where the initial one hobbit remains were found. The fossils were discovered on top of a ribbon-shaped, pebbly sandstone stratum in a small creek. They contained extremely little teeth that could have come from two people, according to researchers.
After investigating a jawbone and teeth from the new discovery in 2016, experts hypothesized the previous ancestors may have been shorter than the hobbits. Further study of a little arm bone fragment and teeth indicates that the forebears were only 2.4 inches shorter and lived 700,000 years ago.
"They've persuasively proven that these were extremely tiny individuals," said Dean Falk, a biological anthropologist from Florida State University who didn't participate in the study.
Researchers have questioned how the hobbits, called Homo floresiensis after the distant Indonesian island of Flores, grew to be so small and where they fit into the human evolutionary path. They're regarded to be one of the final early human species to become extinct.
Scientists aren't sure if the hobbits evolved from an older, taller human species called Homo erectus that thrived in the area, or from an even more primordial human ancestor. Matt Tocheri, an anthropologist at Lakehead University in Canada, believes that more research — and fossils — are needed to determine the hobbits' place in human evolution.
"This question stays unanswered and is expected to be an area of research for some time to come," Tocheri, who did not take part in the study, wrote in an email.
