New discovery sheds light on 'hobbit' people who roamed Indonesia 700,000 years ago

An arm bone fragment excavated on the Indonesia island of Flores. Credit: Yousuke Kaifu via AP

Two decades ago, researchers discovered fossils in an Indonesian cave of an early human species who were one metre tall, earning them the nickname 'hobbits'.

However, a new study has revealed earlier relatives that were six centimetres shorter - and existed 700,000 years ago.

The original hobbit fossils, named by the discoverers after characters in The Lord of the Rings, date back to between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago.

The new fossils were excavated at a site called Mata Menge, about 72km from the cave where the first hobbit remains were uncovered.

The findings were published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

Mata Menge excavation site on the Indonesia island of Flores. Credit: Gerrit van den Bergh via AP

“We did not expect that we would find smaller individuals from such an old site,” study co-author Yousuke Kaifu of the University of Tokyo said.

In 2016, researchers suspected the earlier relatives could be shorter than the hobbits after studying a jawbone and teeth collected from the new site. They confirmed this theory through further analysis of a tiny arm bone fragment and teeth.

Excavated arm bone fragment and the upper arm bone of an original 'hobbit'. Credit: Yousuke Kaifu via AP

Researchers have debated how the hobbits - named Homo floresiensis after the remote Indonesian island of Flores - evolved to be so small and where they fall in the human evolutionary story. They're thought to be among the last early human species to become extinct.

Scientists don't yet know whether the hobbits shrank from an earlier, taller human species called Homo erectus that lived in the area, or from an even older human predecessor.

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More research – and fossils – are needed to pin down the hobbits’ place in human evolution, said Matt Tocheri, an anthropologist at Canada's Lakehead University.

“This question remains unanswered and will continue to be a focus of research for some time to come,” he added.

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