Hobbits may be more than just fictional characters after all, new fossil discoveries suggest the existence of pre-humans living on Indonesian island there is 700,000 years.
Wednesday, an international team of archaeologists reported the results of six isolated teeth and a jaw fragment on the island of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, which came after a decade quest for further evidence that the "hobbit" really existed.
known as Homo floresiensis , the existence of hobbits was discovered in 2003 as primitive and famous older prehuman tiny between 60,000 to 100,000 years. Since then, researchers have tried to find more evidence, which eventually mature ten years later.
fossil tooth hominid | Photo courtesy Kinez Riza
Stunned by the discoveries, paleontologist Gerrit van den Bergh, of the University of Wollongong in Australia, revealed that these teeth and jaw indicate:
"what is really unexpected is that the size of discoveries shows that H. floresiensis had already obtained its small size there are at least 700,000 years," Van den Bergh said as reported by NBC News.
The report revealed that the fossil came from at least one adult and two children, the first possible ancestors of H. floresiensis to be excavated after the original remains were found there are more than a decade.
The new fossils were unearthed in 2014 at Mata Menge, a site 74 kilometers from the cave where the first remains of hobbit were.
tools Meanwhile, the van den Bergh colleagues discovered the stone in Sulawesi, north of Flores, indicating that the prospect of finding more hobbits is not so far fetched.
Read the full report here , published in two separate papers by Nature Journal.