
Archaeologists have discovered a tiny arm bone on the Indonesian island of Flores belonging to the smallest ancient human species on record. The finding helps shed light on the evolution of the Homo floresiensis, an early relative to ancient humans.
The 700,000-year-old incomplete fossil measures 3.5 inches long and makes up the upper arm bone, known as the humerus. The Homo floresiensis (see overview), nicknamed the "hobbits" due to their diminutive size, stood at roughly 3.5 feet tall and coexisted with unique island fauna such as pygmy elephants, rabbit-sized rats, and Komodo dragons.
The discovery of the bone and other fossils suggests Homo floresiensis underwent significant body size reduction in their evolutionary history due to the isolated environment and limited resources on Flores, a phenomenon known as island dwarfism. The findings also support the hypothesis that Homo floresiensis descended from Homo erectus (see overview), an ancient hominin species that arose in Asia and became stranded on Flores.
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