New evidence on human evolution on the Indonesian island of Flores

IN 1957 Theodor Verhoeven, a Dutch Catholic priest who was also an archaeologist, found ancient stone tools on the Indonesian island of Flores. 

The artifacts were close to the fossils of a stegodon, a dwarf elephant which lived around 800,000 years ago.

Verhoeven concluded that early humans were on Flores back then but the scientific community dismissed his claims. Papers appearing in Nature magazine this month, however, show Verhoeven had been right.