WEB FOCUS
Flores Man
In this focus:
Current research | Weblinks | Archive | Evolution in the Pacific Rim
The announcement this time last year of the discovery of Homo floresiensis — also known as 'The Hobbit' — caused a sensation. But some questioned whether the Hobbit really is a new species, rather than a human with a congenital disorder.
In this updated web focus, Nature presents new evidence that dispel these doubts: Homo floresiensis lived on the island of Flores until a few thousand years ago, and appears to have been able to make stone tools, hunt, butcher and cook the pygmy elephants with which it shared its island home. See also the News@Nature.com award-winning Flores Man Special
Current research
LETTER
Further evidence for small-bodied hominins from the late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia
M. J. Morwood et al.
Nature Nature 437, 1012-1017 (13 October 2005) doi:10.1038/nature04022
NEWS AND VIEWS
Palaeoanthropology: Further fossil finds from Flores
New fossil discoveries on Flores, Indonesia, bolster the evidence that Homo floresiensis was a dwarfed human species that lived at the end of the last ice age. But the species' evolutionary origins remain obscure.
Daniel E. Lieberman
Nature 437, 957 (13 October 2005) doi:10.1038/437957a
NEWS
More evidence for hobbit unearthed as diggers are refused access to cave
Rex Dalton
Nature, 437, 934 (13 October 2005) doi:10.1038/437934a
Top of pageWeb links
- News@Nature.com Flores Man Special
Winner of the Association of British Science Writers award (Best science writing on the World Wide Web 2004)
Archive
ARTICLE
A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia
Brown, P. et al.
Nature 431, 1055-1061 (2004)
LETTER
Human evolution writ small
M.L. Marta et al.
Nature 431, 1043 (2004)
NEWS FEATURE
Palaeoanthropology: Looking for the ancestors
Rex Dalton
Nature 434, 432-434 (24 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434432a
Little lady of Flores forces rethink of human evolution
Rex Dalton
Nature 431, 1029 (28 October 2004) doi:10.1038/72757
Fossil finders in tug of war over analysis of hobbit bones
Rex Dalton
Nature 434, 5 (3 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434005a
BOOKS AND ARTS
Exhibition: Hirst's hobbit
Michael Hopkin
Nature 434, 702 (7 April 2005) doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400471
ANALYSIS
Skullduggery
Tabitha M. Powledge
EMBO reports 6 7, 609-612 (2005) doi:10.1038/7383
Top of pageEvolution in the Pacific Rim
With the discovery of Flores Man, a new species of human that lived on Flores from as long ago as 95,000 years ago until as recently as 12,000 years ago, the Pacific Rim is yet again proving to be the dusty attic of evolution — full of unusual and often bizarre artefacts of biology. In this web focus, Nature also presents some of the other oddities that have sprung up from this fascinating region.
Fission track age of stone tools and fossils on the east Indonesian island of Flores
An earlier work on Flores by Morwood et al. documenting 800,000-year-old stone tools on an island that could only be reached by boat, implying that Homo erectus was a mariner. Were they the ancestors of the new Flores hominin?
Morwood, M.J. et al.
Nature 392, 173-176 (1998) doi:10.1038/8364
Early Homo and associated artefacts from Asia
Some teasing and fragmentary evidence of an ancient pre-erectus hominid in China.
Wanpo H. et al.
Nature 378, 275-278 (1995)
First paragraph and references | PDF
A new species of living bovid from Vietnam
A paper that shows that large mammals, including this large ox-like beast are even now being discovered for the first time, especially in South-East Asia.
Dung, V.V. et al.
Nature 363, 443-445 (1993)
First paragraph and references | PDF
Indonesian 'king of the sea' discovered
The discovery of specimens of the coelacanth in Indonesian waters raises questions about the geographical distribution and conservation status of this remarkable fish.
Erdmann, M.V. et al.
Nature 395, 335 (1998)
New ages for human occupation and climatic change at Lake Mungo, Australia
Lake Mungo is a site of enormous importance, hosting the source of the world's oldest human mitochondrial DNA, as well as the world's oldest ritual ochre burial. Here, Bert Roberts and colleagues re-date modern man's occupation in Australia.
Bowler J.M. et al.
Nature 421, 837-840 (2003)
Full Text | PDF | Supplementary Information
Thermoluminescence dating of a 50,000-year-old human occupation site in northern Australia
Bert Roberts, one of the co-authors on the Flores Man papers, here describes how modern humans arrived in Australia up to 60,000 years ago, earlier than previously thought.
Roberts R.G. et al.
Nature 345, 153-156 (1990)
Pleistocene dates for the human occupation of New Ireland, northern Melanesia
Allen, J. et al.
Nature 331, 707-709 (1988)
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