Editor's Summary
17 April 2008
Documentary evidence
On the remote archipelago of Palau in the Pacific, science has become caught up in the entertainment business. On the face of it, suggestions that small-bodied humans lived on there a few thousand years ago echo claims that dwarfed hominins lived on the Indonesian island of Flores at that time. But as Rex Dalton reports, the paper (in Plos One) on the Palau fossils has met with much scepticism. And to some observers, the fact that a TV documentary was made to publicize the new discoveries adds to the unease about where science ends and entertainment begins.
News Feature: Archaeology: Bones, isles and videotape
Old human remains found on the Pacific islands of Palau are caught in the crossfire between entertainment and science. Rex Dalton reports.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/452806a