Hobbit-like creature ‘early human species’

FURTHER evidence has emerged that the Indonesian “Hobbit” whose remains were found in 2003 was a previously unknown species of human.

A computer-generated 3D reconstruction of the creature’s brain is said to refute claims it was an ordinary modern human with an extra-small head.

Some experts have argued that Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the “Hobbit” after the little people in JRR Tolkien’s tales, probably suffered from microcephalia, a genetic condition which causes the head to shrink.

Controversy has dogged the discovery since the skull of a specimen listed as LB1 was unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores.

Professor Dean Falk, from Florida State University in Tallahassee, US, said: “We have answered the people who contend that the Hobbit is a microcephalic.

“LB1 has a highly evolved brain. It didn’t get bigger, it got re-wired and re-organised, and that’s very interesting.”