Media coverage
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Media coverage
Title The ‘hobbit’ was a separate species of human, new dating reveals Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet Science AAS Media type Print Duration/Length/Size DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4063 Country/Territory United States Date 2/04/16 Description In 2003, scientists made a startling find in a remote cave on the Indonesian island of Flores: The skull and skeleton of an adult female hominin, a group consisting of modern humans and extinct human species, who stood only about a meter tall. That
discovery sparked a fierce debate about whether the hominin—officially dubbed Homo floresiensis but often called the “hobbit”—was a separate species or a diseased
modern human. Now, many of the same scientists who made the discovery have radically revised their estimate of the fossils' age, based on an exhaustive new analysis of the cave’s geology. Instead of living 18,000 years ago, as they originally reported, the hobbit lived between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago—some 10,000 years before H. sapiens arrived in the region.Producer/Author Carolyn Gramling URL www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/hobbitwasseparatespecieshumannewdatingreveals Persons KE Westaway Title Indonesian 'hobbits' disappeared when modern humans arrived, new dating shows Degree of recognition National Media name/outlet ABC News online Media type Web Country/Territory Australia Date 31/03/16 Description The disappearance of "hobbits" on the Indonesian island of Flores
has been pushed back to 50,000 years ago after excavations revealed flaws in the original dating of the controversial species of primitive humans.
The new timeframe coincides with the arrival of modern humans in
Australia and gives weight to the theory Homo sapiens may have played a role in the demise of Homo floresiensis.Producer/Author Dani Cooper URL https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-03-31/flores-hobbit-died-out-when-modern-humans-arrived/7284368 Persons KE Westaway Title Age of 'Hobbit' species revised Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet BBC News online Media type Web Country/Territory United Kingdom Date 30/03/16 Description The diminutive human species nicknamed "the Hobbit" is older than previously recognised, scientists now say.
The discovery of Homo floresiensis in 2003 caused a sensation because it seemed the creature could have been alive in the quite recent past. But a new analysis indicates the little hominin probably went extinct at least 50,000 years ago not
the 12,000 years ago initially thought to be the case.Producer/Author Jonathan Amos URL www.bbc.com/news/scienceenvironment35930979 Persons KE Westaway, Matthew W. Tocheri, Thomas Sutikna, Richard G. Roberts