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New human species find may yield DNA

December 15, 2004

Mike Morwood thumb.jpgSamples of hair found during excavation of the remains of Homo floresiensis, the new human species just discovered on a remote Indonesian island, could contain DNA that would help to clarify the relationship between this species and our own.

The University of New England’s Professor Mike Morwood, who led the expedition that discovered Homo floresiensis, mentioned this possibility in talking about the excavation during an international archaeology conference this week.

The conference was the annual meeting of the Australian Archaeological Association, held this year at UNE. Professor Morwood said his team was now looking for traces of DNA in soil samples and on stone tools. "We are also looking at the shape of the brain [of Homo floresiensis] and comparing similarities and differences between it and other human species," he said.

More than 250 academics from around the world attended the conference at UNE on December 12-15, a main feature of which was Professor Morwood’s public lecture.

The discovery, by a team of Australian and Indonesian scientists led by Professor Morwood, was of a skeleton of a 1m tall woman, aged about 30, who died about 18,000 years ago in a large limestone cave at Liang Bua, on the tiny island of Flores, about 600km east of Bali. The discovery made international news in October and has been the subject of intense debate.

Professor Morwood told delegates that since the discovery there had been about 98,000 Web sites featuring stories about the so-called "hobbit".

He intends to continue his archaeological investigations in the region and told the conference he expects "more 'hobbit' finds," adding that the discovery changed the "simplistic paradigm of how humans evolved".

Ms Kira Westaway, from the University of Wollongong, helped date the new species' bones and talked at the conference about the type of environment in which Homo floresiensis existed. "The 'hobbit' lived at a time when there was an increased amount of vegetation, water and soil in the area," Ms Westaway said. "We also discovered there had been a significant amount of water in the cave, and the 'hobbit' may have fallen into a pool of water and died." Mark Moore, from UNE, talked about stone implements found near the skeleton of the hobbit and how they may have been used.


Media contact: Professor Mike Morwood, School of Human and Environmental Studies, UNE (02) 6773 2357 or Lydia Roberts, Public Relations Manager, UNE (02) 6773 2779.


Posted by Lydia Roberts at December 15, 2004 05:43 PM