Convoluted human evolution: Hobbits & humans (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, April 23, 2017, 20:03 (2771 days ago) @ David Turell

Now shown to have emigrated from Arica as a fairly ancient species, much earlier than sapiens. pr0bably H. habilis:

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-indonesian-hobbits-revealed.html

"The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed "the hobbits" due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis—one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.

"Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.

***

"'The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor," Dr Argue said.

"'It's possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere."

"Homo floresiensis is known to have lived on Flores until as recently as 54,000 years ago.

***

"Where previous research had focused mostly on the skull and lower jaw, this study used 133 data points ranging across the skull, jaws, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders.

"Dr Argue said none of the data supported the theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from Homo erectus.

"'We looked at whether Homo floresiensis could be descended from Homo erectus," she said.

"'We found that if you try and link them on the family tree, you get a very unsupported result. All the tests say it doesn't fit—it's just not a viable theory."

"Dr Argue said this was supported by the fact that in many features, such as the structure of the jaw, Homo floresiensis was more primitive than Homo erectus.

"'Logically, it would be hard to understand how you could have that regression—why would the jaw of Homo erectus evolve back to the primitive condition we see in Homo floresiensis?"

"Dr Argue said the analyses could also support the theory that Homo floresiensis could have branched off earlier in the timeline, more than 1.75 million years ago.

"'If this was the case Homo floresiensis would have evolved before the earliest Homo habilis, which would make it very archaic indeed," she said.

"Professor Mike Lee of Flinders University and the South Australian Museum, used statistical modeling to analyse the data.

"'When we did the analysis there was really clear support for the relationship with Homo habilis. Homo floresiensis occupied a very primitive position on the human evolutionary tree," Professor Lee said.

"'We can be 99 per cent sure it's not related to Homo erectus and nearly 100 per cent chance it isn't a malformed Homo sapiens," Professor Lee said."

Comment: The background of this strange group looks to lead back to Africa, where the early human species developed.