Homo Floresiensis - the Hobbit

‘Lucy’ was exposed by Donald Johanson, an anthropologist, with his team, went to survey Hadar in Ethiopia during the late 1970s for signs in understanding Human origins. On November 24, 1974 by the Awash River, Donald’s’ plan for the day was to update his notes but decided otherwise when one of his students, Tom Gray, joined him to find fossil bones. Both of them were on the hot waterless plains examining the sandy terrain when a fossil was spotted; it turned out to be an arm bone fragments on a slope. As they looked closer, more and more bones were found, including a jaw, arm bone, a thighbone, ribs, and vertebrae. Donald and Tom had cautiously examined the limited skeleton and calculated that a remarkable 40% of a hominid skeleton was salvaged,

The discovery of the remains of an apparently miniature hominin species (catalogued as Lb1) on the island of Flores has sparked debate throughout the archaeological community. This species of hominin is unique in a number of aspects and appears contradictory to trends in archaeological evidence and theories about the development of modern humans in that area of the world.

Discoveries relating to the human lineage are extremely exciting and often baffling. This is the case with the recent discovery of what seems to be the oldest member of the human family. A skull found in northern Chad in 2001, has been deemed the earliest relative to the human ever found. Nicknamed Toumai, and discovered by Michel Brunet and his paleontology team, this new category of human has been given the scientific name, Sahelanthropus tchaensis. What makes this skull so definitive is the fact that it dates back approximately 6-7 million years in the earth’s history (Whitfield 2002). Since the discovery there have been anthropologists and paleontologists that have

The infamous event of the Piltdown hoax is one that continues to draw speculative attention over a century after the initial announcement of the paleoanthropological findings. Although many scientists, especially those involved in the field of paleoanthropology, would like to forget the incident entirely, the Piltdown man—taxonomically referred to as Eoanthropus dawsoni—is perhaps the greatest hoax in anthropological history. By 1912, British archaeologists and paleontologists were desperate for a significant paleoanthropological finding that would provide the missing link between humans and apes in hominin evolution (Prosser, 2009). The Piltdown man was originally a famous finding that straddled the human-animal boundary, dichotomously

A new species of hominids was found on Flores, the fossils show the race to have a tiny frame and small brain. These hobbits seem to have existed tens of thousands of years ago and are even thought have coincided in the same time with the early humans. Unfortunately,  the discovery

The Non fictitious World of J.R.R Tolkien When it comes to nonfiction, facts and tell-tale events take hold of the book, leaving nothing but cold hard realities. Whether it is because of the gritty truths that many face or repetitive information presented on a page by page basis, what steers most people away is the lack of imagination. That is exactly why I chose to read Master of Middle-Earth, the fiction of the ever-creative master of nonfiction himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. This book gave me the grand idea of how to get around the dreadful terrors of fiction by finding one about the written fantasies of The Lord of the Rings and to a lesser, but still marvelous extent, The Hobbit.

The discovery of Homo floresiensis occurred of the coast of Indonesia on one of the Wallecean Islands called Flores. The dig site which Homo floresiensis was discovered is called Liang Bua or “cool cave”. Father Theodore Verhoeven was the first to report and publish that stone tools were found in central Flores at

The Homo floresiensis was discovered on the Island of Flores, Indonesia. According to the Australian Museum the human remains can range from being 100 000 to 60 000 years old. They also stated that the Homo floresiensis’s tools, which can date back from anywhere to 190 000 to 50 000 years ago, indicating that they lived alongside the Neanderthals, Denisovans and the Homo Sapiens. In addition it suggests that they lived at Liang Bua, a cave where the remans were found, during this time period. The Homo floresiensis was nicknamed “the hobbit” as they only stood around 3.5 feet and also had a tiny brain. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History proposed that these traits may have occurred due to the long-term isolation on a small island

“How old is the oldest human fossil?,” If you had said about 700,000 years, you would probably have been right until just recently that is, “The September 1998 issue of Discover magazine”, reports that Ernesto Abbate, a geology professor from Florence, Italy, has just discovered the fossilized skull and teeth of a humanlike creature who might have lived, as far back as, one million years ago. Calling this creature Buia Man after the city in northeastern Africa where the remains were found. Prof. Abbate thinks he has discovered the earliest fossil that displays physical features associated with Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. Moreover, Buia Man says, Prof. Abbate also shows physical

advantages to open new opportunities for the early primates that allowed to crack up bones and nuts for food. Likewise, these tools were both found with Australopithecus boisei that shared the same terrain during the same time period with the Homo habilis. “If australopithecines were equally skillful, then [the explanation that there is an association with intelligence and tool making would] fail” (Lewin and Foley 293). These tools both found with the Australopithecines and homo species pushed new theories into action about how humans succeeded into what they are currently. Also, one very unusual specimen was found in the island of Flores. A new species that taught that scientific community to reevaluate the human evolution and how they became

The Article Ancestors was published in August 2001 it was published by Archaeological Institute of America and was intended for anthropologists. This article informs readers that two new fossils where found in Kenya, which gives us evidence that we did not evolve from a single ancestor. This gives us new insight not only on how species evolve but more importantly where we came from. The author put pictures in the article to show the fossils and a map to show where they were found. The pictures give readers visual evidence on how the species are related to us and that we evolved from more than one species. The author also goes into detail about the skull and skeleton parts that where found. Stating where they were found, how old they are, and

Mike Morwood, one of the codirectors of the team who discovered the Homo floresiensis, was several years working on the island of Flores. In fact, in 1998 announced the discovery of lithic industry close to 800.000 years old 6. Though it was impressive the so old existence of stone tools in that area, which it was really amazing of that discovery was none of the two, because, in fact, samples of lithic industry were already found with a similar or superior age in the Indonesian archipelago. Where did the remarkable facts of this discovery lie? Not surprisingly, in the very exact place of its discovery: the island of Flores.

There are certain books that have the ability to shift the reader’s perception of the world permanently. These are the classics: Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, the list goes on. Each of these books carries qualities that have withstood the test of time, that resonate with the readers even today. One of book that has not yet received its status as a classic is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. However, its powerful messages, deep meaning, and appeal to a wide audience make it a book that every student in the Honors Program should read.

Hominids with a brain absolutely and relatively larger than that of the australopithecines appeared about 2.3 million years ago. These hominids are classified in our own genus: Homo. The earliest species to appear was the Homo Habilis. It was the first of our ancestors to show a significant increase in brain size and also the first to be found associated with stone tools. These characteristics resulted in this species’ placement into the human genus, Homo.

The fantasy world of The Lord of the Rings holds a large assortment of Men, Elves and Goblins. Adventures of all sorts are plentiful and the stories of valor and deceit can draw a reader like a fly to flypaper. And yet there is, at its deepest level, a strong religious message found through a variety of mediums. The storyline follows the adventures of Frodo, a simple being from ?The Shire,? and a smaller than average creature, a Hobbit. Frodo reluctantly undertakes the challenge of defeating the Lord of Darkness, Sauron, by destroying his Ring of Power, a feat which can only be done through casting the Ring into the Fires of Mount Doom, Sauron?s stronghold. Frodo and his group of companions undertake the journey and along the way are faced