Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 24, 2004

Homo floresiensis is a newly described species in the genus Homo, remarkable for its small body, small brain, and recent survival. It is thought to have been contemporaneous with modern humans on the remote Indonesian island of Flores. One sub-fossil skeleton, dated at 18,000 years old, is largely complete except for arm bones which may yet be found. It was discovered in deposits in Liang Bua Cave, Flores, in 2003. Also here, parts of six other individuals, all diminutive, have been recovered as well as similarly small stone tools from horizons ranging from 94,000 to 13,000 years ago. The discoverers have called members of the diminutive species hobbits, after J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional race of roughly the same height. In the island's mythology there were common references to Ebu Gogo, a small furry man, even into the 19th century. (more...)

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