Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Palaeoanthropology

Homo floresiensis from head to toe

Nature volume 459, pages 41–42 (2009)Cite this article

Fossils of tiny ancient humans, found on the island of Flores, have provoked much debate and speculation. Evidence that they are a real species comes from analyses of the foot and also — more surprisingly — of dwarf hippos.

Good science requires a healthy dose of tempered scepticism — at its heart, the process involves trying to reject proposed hypotheses. So it was understandable that the announcement1,2 in 2004 of the discovery of a species of dwarfed hominin, Homo floresiensis, from the island of Flores, Indonesia, stimulated a range of opinions, many of them sceptical, that the fossils constituted a new species and were not the consequence of some pathological condition.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Fossil site — Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores.
Figure 2: The human family tree.

References

  1. Brown, P. et al. Nature 431, 1055–1061 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Morwood, M. J. et al. Nature 431, 1087–1091 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Jungers, W. L. et al. Nature 459, 81–84 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Weston, E. M. & Lister, A. M. Nature 459, 85–88 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Morwood, M. J. et al. Nature 437, 1012–1017 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Roberts, R. G. et al. J. Hum. Evol. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.003 (2009).

  7. Jacob, T. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 13421–13426 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hershkovitz, I., Kornreich, L. & Laron, Z. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 134, 198–208 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Obendorf, P. J., Oxnard, C. E. & Kefford, B. J. Proc. Biol. Sci. 275, 1287–1296 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Falk, D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 2513–2518 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Argue, D., Donlon, D., Groves, C. & Wright, R. J. Hum. Evol. 51, 360–374 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gordon, A. D., Nevell, L. & Wood, B. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 4650–4655 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Larson, S. G. et al. J. Hum. Evol. 53, 718–731 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Torcheri, M. W. et al. Science 317, 1743–1745 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Martin, R. D., Maclarnon, A. M., Phillips, J. L. & Dobyns, W. B. Anat. Rec. A 288, 1123–1145 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Bramble, D. M. & Lieberman, D. E. Nature 432, 345–352 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Rolian, C. P. et al. J. Exp. Biol. 212, 713–721 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bennett, M. R. et al. Science 322, 1089–1092 (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Larson, S. G. et al. J. Hum. Evol. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.06.007 (2009).

  20. Jungers, W. L. et al. J. Hum. Evol. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.014 (2009).

  21. Baab, K. L. & McNulty, K. P. J. Hum. Evol. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.011 (2009).

  22. Lordkipanidze, D. et al. Nature 449, 305–310 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Daniel E. Lieberman is in the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. danlieb@fas.harvard.edu,

    Daniel E. Lieberman

Authors
  1. Daniel E. Lieberman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lieberman, D. Homo floresiensis from head to toe. Nature 459, 41–42 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459041a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459041a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing