The Ancient Inhabitants of Flores Island
The recently discovered Homo floresiensis have been a puzzle for scientists. The skeletons are an odd mix of archaic and more modern traits. The problem of how these diminutive hominins arrived on the island of Flores is still a mystery. The dating shows H. floresiensis arrived over a million years ago by the tools they left behind. The hominins had a minimal cranial capacity, yet they were able to live and prosper until recent times.
The Indonesian Island of Flores is a tropical Sunda Island with a history of unusual hominins. In 2003, a team of Australian and Indonesian scientists excavated a hominin in Liang Bua Cave on Flores, Indonesia. The female hominin was extraordinary because of its small size. …show more content…
The tibialis posterior muscle is attached to the navicular tuberosity and LB1's tuberosity is primitive (Baab 2016). The large navicular tuberosity is weight bearing and determines the medial longitudinal arch which H. floresiensis was lacking. The big toes are in line with the other toes and are short. The other toes were long and slightly curved, the foot is about 20 cm in length (Wong 2012). The foot is more reminiscent of a bonobo foot than a hominin. The foot features would have given them a high-stepping gait because of the toe length and the length of the entire foot (2012). They could have trotted for a short distance, although would have had difficulty running …show more content…
The natural selection would have allowed smaller hominins to survive a limited diet on a small island, therefore H. floresiensis first became smaller as the mandible at Mata Menge suggests and became larger over time. More remains will need to be found to determine if the mandible is from a normal sized hominin or just a small individual of the population. Mutation could have come from a genetic abnormality and with a small number of hominins on the island, the mutation could have become the normal for the population due to genetic drift or the founder effect. Genetic flow could account for more than size. The sharing of genetic material between Australopithecus and H. erectus could clarify the body shape of the Australopithecus and the head shape of the H. erectus.
Cut marks on Stegodon bones suggest the tools made at Wolo Sege or other undiscovered sites, were used to butcher the small elephants. The use of fire and Stegodon bones at Liang Bua cave suggests H. floresiensis ate cooked foods. The island was inhabited by giant rats and large lizards like Komodo dragons, however we have no evidence to date as to the consumption of these animals. The remains of sea foods are missing from the articles on H. floresiensis and living by the sea would indicate some consumption of sea foods, despite the fact we have no indication of fishing or savaging from the
The recently discovered Homo floresiensis have been a puzzle for scientists. The skeletons are an odd mix of archaic and more modern traits. The problem of how these diminutive hominins arrived on the island of Flores is still a mystery. The dating shows H. floresiensis arrived over a million years ago by the tools they left behind. The hominins had a minimal cranial capacity, yet they were able to live and prosper until recent times.
The Indonesian Island of Flores is a tropical Sunda Island with a history of unusual hominins. In 2003, a team of Australian and Indonesian scientists excavated a hominin in Liang Bua Cave on Flores, Indonesia. The female hominin was extraordinary because of its small size. …show more content…
The tibialis posterior muscle is attached to the navicular tuberosity and LB1's tuberosity is primitive (Baab 2016). The large navicular tuberosity is weight bearing and determines the medial longitudinal arch which H. floresiensis was lacking. The big toes are in line with the other toes and are short. The other toes were long and slightly curved, the foot is about 20 cm in length (Wong 2012). The foot is more reminiscent of a bonobo foot than a hominin. The foot features would have given them a high-stepping gait because of the toe length and the length of the entire foot (2012). They could have trotted for a short distance, although would have had difficulty running …show more content…
The natural selection would have allowed smaller hominins to survive a limited diet on a small island, therefore H. floresiensis first became smaller as the mandible at Mata Menge suggests and became larger over time. More remains will need to be found to determine if the mandible is from a normal sized hominin or just a small individual of the population. Mutation could have come from a genetic abnormality and with a small number of hominins on the island, the mutation could have become the normal for the population due to genetic drift or the founder effect. Genetic flow could account for more than size. The sharing of genetic material between Australopithecus and H. erectus could clarify the body shape of the Australopithecus and the head shape of the H. erectus.
Cut marks on Stegodon bones suggest the tools made at Wolo Sege or other undiscovered sites, were used to butcher the small elephants. The use of fire and Stegodon bones at Liang Bua cave suggests H. floresiensis ate cooked foods. The island was inhabited by giant rats and large lizards like Komodo dragons, however we have no evidence to date as to the consumption of these animals. The remains of sea foods are missing from the articles on H. floresiensis and living by the sea would indicate some consumption of sea foods, despite the fact we have no indication of fishing or savaging from the