The geometry of hobbits: Homo floresiensis and human evolution

Abstract

Until quite recently modern humans shared the earth with now extinct relatives - Neanderthals and others - in Europe and Asia. Homo floresiensis - dubbed the "hobbits" in the popular press - is the most recent, and the most surprising, addition to the human family tree. Were the tiny hobbit people of Flores dwarfed descendents of known species, modern humans suffering from a skull-shrinking genetic disease or a new species entirely? William Jungers and Karen Baab look at the time, the space and the body-shape of the astonishing hobbits. © 2009 The Royal Statistical Society.