Marc Verha
Fri, Dec-22-06, 17:16
The Australasian Society for Human Biology annual conference
was held in Melbourne recently, and opened with a symposium on
the significance of the 'Homo floresiensis' fossil material.
Mike Morwood introduced the session with a contextual overview
of the Homo floresiensis fossils in a seminar entitled 'The
Hobbit's Tale'. In a passionate plea, he urged fellow
researches to stop concentrating on possible pathological
explanations, and begin instead to appreciate the enormous
significance of this new hominid species. The story of man is
being revitalised, according to Mike Morwood, and there are
many potential fossil sites in Borneo, Sulawesi and other
islands of the region awaiting discovery.
Morwood outlined what he believes could have spelled the end
for the hobbits, and the pygmy Stegodon that apparently became
extinct at about the same time at the end of the Pleistocene,
replaced by modern humans who had mastered sailing (and were
therefore able to navigate the strong currents.
Morwood described the hobbits as having ape like proportions,
and talked about them being an endemic part of an ancient
island fauna, who might have arrived 850ka, when stone tools
begin to appear in fluviatile and lacustrine deposits of the
Soa Basin (850 and 600ka).
There are other deposits else where on Flores with stone
artefacts and Stegodon, younger than 600ka. The cave of Liang
Bua lies above a river valley which drains to the north. The
cave was created by the river about 190ka, when water rolled
rocks and hominid artefacts were deposited in the cave.
The post cranial elements of floresiensis were described by
Morwood as Homo habilis-like, with longer arms than legs. It
apparently had no chin or forehead, again like Homo habilis.
But in something of a surprise, it had very long feet, unlike
anything seen in any other hominid. It had a flared pelvis.
The femur and tibia are short and thick and this was said to
be a Homo habilis trait. The shoulder configuration of Homo
floresiensis was also different to modern humans, with the
humeral tension more gibbon like than Homo.
Morwood believes they may have targeted very young Stegodon.
My comments Morwood seems to support the idea that the first
crossing of Wallace's Line may have been accidental, but from
Sulawesi rather than Java, and been part of a dispersal that
included elephants, reptiles, rats and humans. Persistent
strong currents could sweep animals (pigs, rodents, elephants,
humans) from Sulawesi to Flores, but it may have been very
difficult to reach Flores from Java. The idea that arrival
from Java was impossible due to strong currents is based on
the assumption that currents have always been as strong as
they are now, always in the same direction and continuously
for all parts of the day and through all seasons and
regardless of sea level rises, tectonics, volcanism, storms,
glaciations etc., which I would question.
Morwood suggested there significant faunal turnovers occur in
the Philippines as well as Sulawesi, Flores and Timor. He also
believes the hominid colonisation of southeast Asia may have
occurred by 2 to 3Ma.
In her seminar, Debbie Argue argued that floresiensis was
closest to Australopithecus garhi in the post-cranial analysis
she conducted, and was closest to early Koobi Fora Homo in
aspects of its cranial anatomy.
Charles Oxnard and Peter Obendorf argued that the Homo
floresiensis fossils could have been cretins, which may in
part have been due to environmental factors (that is they
lived in mountain forests away from the coast and therefore
didn't have good access to iodine and other essential
nutrients.) At the start of his presentation Charles Oxnard
discussed the similarities of the Liang Bua fossils to apes
and australopithecines. He then showed a number of
characteristics that floresiensis supposedly shared with
modern human individuals suffering from cretinism.
During a panel discussion, Mike Morwood, when asked by Algis
Kuliukas, what he thought of Charles's cretinism ideas,
pointed out that every individual found at the site so far
(thirteen in all) shows similar characteristics, and that
therefore to believe the cretin idea (or the microcephalic
idea) would be to believe that every member of the population
suffered from a similar pathological condition, in which case
how did they survive there for at least the best part of a 100
thousand years.
My Comments I tend to agree with Morwood here. In my opinion
we should assume since there are thirteen individuals, over a
period of nearly 100 thousand years, that this is a normal
population. Any other scenario, in my opinion, requires
special pleading, and since the fossils share a number of
aspects with other fossil hominid species, why shouldn't we
accept them as a normal, rather than an abnormal population.
And since some of the fossil species they resemble lived in
Africa more than 2 million years ago, it seems possible that
these hominids might represent a lineage that has in some
respect not changed much since hominids first dispersed,
possibly around coastal forests and up rivers around the
Plio-Pleistocene boundary?
Algis Kuliukas also presented a very interesting paper about
wading in different depths and with different postures.
Stephen Munro
was held in Melbourne recently, and opened with a symposium on
the significance of the 'Homo floresiensis' fossil material.
Mike Morwood introduced the session with a contextual overview
of the Homo floresiensis fossils in a seminar entitled 'The
Hobbit's Tale'. In a passionate plea, he urged fellow
researches to stop concentrating on possible pathological
explanations, and begin instead to appreciate the enormous
significance of this new hominid species. The story of man is
being revitalised, according to Mike Morwood, and there are
many potential fossil sites in Borneo, Sulawesi and other
islands of the region awaiting discovery.
Morwood outlined what he believes could have spelled the end
for the hobbits, and the pygmy Stegodon that apparently became
extinct at about the same time at the end of the Pleistocene,
replaced by modern humans who had mastered sailing (and were
therefore able to navigate the strong currents.
Morwood described the hobbits as having ape like proportions,
and talked about them being an endemic part of an ancient
island fauna, who might have arrived 850ka, when stone tools
begin to appear in fluviatile and lacustrine deposits of the
Soa Basin (850 and 600ka).
There are other deposits else where on Flores with stone
artefacts and Stegodon, younger than 600ka. The cave of Liang
Bua lies above a river valley which drains to the north. The
cave was created by the river about 190ka, when water rolled
rocks and hominid artefacts were deposited in the cave.
The post cranial elements of floresiensis were described by
Morwood as Homo habilis-like, with longer arms than legs. It
apparently had no chin or forehead, again like Homo habilis.
But in something of a surprise, it had very long feet, unlike
anything seen in any other hominid. It had a flared pelvis.
The femur and tibia are short and thick and this was said to
be a Homo habilis trait. The shoulder configuration of Homo
floresiensis was also different to modern humans, with the
humeral tension more gibbon like than Homo.
Morwood believes they may have targeted very young Stegodon.
My comments Morwood seems to support the idea that the first
crossing of Wallace's Line may have been accidental, but from
Sulawesi rather than Java, and been part of a dispersal that
included elephants, reptiles, rats and humans. Persistent
strong currents could sweep animals (pigs, rodents, elephants,
humans) from Sulawesi to Flores, but it may have been very
difficult to reach Flores from Java. The idea that arrival
from Java was impossible due to strong currents is based on
the assumption that currents have always been as strong as
they are now, always in the same direction and continuously
for all parts of the day and through all seasons and
regardless of sea level rises, tectonics, volcanism, storms,
glaciations etc., which I would question.
Morwood suggested there significant faunal turnovers occur in
the Philippines as well as Sulawesi, Flores and Timor. He also
believes the hominid colonisation of southeast Asia may have
occurred by 2 to 3Ma.
In her seminar, Debbie Argue argued that floresiensis was
closest to Australopithecus garhi in the post-cranial analysis
she conducted, and was closest to early Koobi Fora Homo in
aspects of its cranial anatomy.
Charles Oxnard and Peter Obendorf argued that the Homo
floresiensis fossils could have been cretins, which may in
part have been due to environmental factors (that is they
lived in mountain forests away from the coast and therefore
didn't have good access to iodine and other essential
nutrients.) At the start of his presentation Charles Oxnard
discussed the similarities of the Liang Bua fossils to apes
and australopithecines. He then showed a number of
characteristics that floresiensis supposedly shared with
modern human individuals suffering from cretinism.
During a panel discussion, Mike Morwood, when asked by Algis
Kuliukas, what he thought of Charles's cretinism ideas,
pointed out that every individual found at the site so far
(thirteen in all) shows similar characteristics, and that
therefore to believe the cretin idea (or the microcephalic
idea) would be to believe that every member of the population
suffered from a similar pathological condition, in which case
how did they survive there for at least the best part of a 100
thousand years.
My Comments I tend to agree with Morwood here. In my opinion
we should assume since there are thirteen individuals, over a
period of nearly 100 thousand years, that this is a normal
population. Any other scenario, in my opinion, requires
special pleading, and since the fossils share a number of
aspects with other fossil hominid species, why shouldn't we
accept them as a normal, rather than an abnormal population.
And since some of the fossil species they resemble lived in
Africa more than 2 million years ago, it seems possible that
these hominids might represent a lineage that has in some
respect not changed much since hominids first dispersed,
possibly around coastal forests and up rivers around the
Plio-Pleistocene boundary?
Algis Kuliukas also presented a very interesting paper about
wading in different depths and with different postures.
Stephen Munro