'Hobbit' island colonised much earlier than thought

[Lexion]

PARIS (AFP) – Flores, the Indonesian island where skeletal remains of famous "hobbit hominids" were found in 2003, was colonised by humans much earlier than thought, scientists said on Wednesday.

Humans settled in Flores around a million years ago, at least 120,000 years sooner than previously estimated, they reported in the journal Nature.

I'm still on the fence whether these were
tribes of "little people", but it's still a cool
find.

Source (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100317/sc_afp/scienceanthropologyindonesiahobbits_20100317180718 )

[Raptor Jesus]

This stuff's starting to become mainstream. Only ten years ago it was laughed at...

I think we've been around for ages, 6ft is an arbritary average height. There's nothing stopping shorter and taller beings existing somewhere in the past. Proof? I don't know, apart from some interesting skeletons. But the possibility is very real.

What do you think of the giants of Easter Island, Lex?

*

Steve Quayle's anti-Giant ravings are funny as hell. What an idiot.

[Lexion]

The statues ?

Only giants I've heard of, there.

Edit to add :

Did you know Easter Island is an
alternate Shuttle Landing site ?

[egg]

PARIS (AFP) – Flores, the Indonesian island where skeletal remains of famous "hobbit hominids" were found in 2003, was colonised by humans much earlier than thought, scientists said on Wednesday.

Humans settled in Flores around a million years ago, at least 120,000 years sooner than previously estimated, they reported in the journal Nature.

I'm still on the fence whether these were
tribes of "little people", but it's still a cool
find.

What do you mean, you're on the fence? You're on the fence that they were humans but little?

I saw an interesting Nat Geo or Discovery show on them a year or two ago. If I remember correctly, because of resources being limited they grew to a much smaller height than was normal for humans at the time. They weren't like "little people" as their bodies were more proportional.

[Lexion]

I thought they found that they
had some disease.

Meh.

No large bone population has been
found, has it ?

Just a couple skeletons ?

[Hobbit]

The consensus is that they are a different species

How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/feb/21/hobbit-rewriting-history-human-race

'Hobbit' New Species After All, Says Study

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/05/06/hobbit-species.html

[Raptor Jesus]

The statues ?

Only giants I've heard of, there.

Sure, but I wonder who built them, if it was a race of ten foot people somewhere in Earth's past. Some of them weight 50 tons. As an engineer, is there a current crane capable of doing that?


Did you know Easter Island is an
alternate Shuttle Landing site ?

No that's pretty interesting, I wonder why the hell they chose there.

[Raptor Jesus]

http://www.essortment.com/all/easterisland_reqn.htm



By either name, is renowned for the nine hundred massive carved statues known as
Moai, some weighing more than fifty tons, which were erected centuries before lookouts on the Dutch ship spotted this speck alone on the Pacific
horizon.

Modern DNA testing and have answered many of the mysterious questions that
have swirled over the history of the island’s early inhabitants and their seeming passion for constructing stone statues, all fundamentally the same in appearance.

[skunk]

Lex, source? Thanks.

[Lexion]

Source for what ?

Edit :

Oh shit, gimme a sec.

:D