Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis
The discovery showed that human evolution on islands could produce unexpected body forms and sizes.
Image: Rama · CC BY-SA 3.0 fr · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Homo floresiensis
- Period
- Late Pleistocene
- Lived
- 0.1–0.05 Ma (100,000 years ago)
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Habitat
- Forest, Plains
- Length (estimate)
- 1.1 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 25 kg
- Discovered/described
- 2003 · Indonesian–Australian research team led by Mike Morwood and Raden Soejono
Description
Homo floresiensis was a small hominin with a small braincase, long feet and a combination of ancient and more derived traits. Stone tools on Flores indicate the use of technology, although not all tools are directly associated with fossils. The species lived on an island with dwarf elephants and giant monitor lizards. Its origins and evolutionary relationships remain a subject of scientific debate.
Habitat
Tropical forests and open landscapes on the Indonesian island of Flores.
Fossil sites
Liang Bua Cave, Flores
Cultural profile: Indonesia →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Homo floresiensis