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Independent study confirms discovery of new human species

July 13, 2006

PBrown2.thumb.jpgAn independent study has corroborated the work of Professor Peter Brown, the University of New England scientist who analysed skeletal remains found on the Indonesian island of Flores and concluded that they represented a hitherto unknown human species.

Professor Brown (pictured here), UNE’s Professor Mike Morwood (the leader of the archaeological team that discovered the remains) and their Australian and Indonesian colleagues, in momentous publications in the international journal Nature in 2004, named the tiny human species Homo floresiensis (while the media quickly nicknamed it “the Hobbit”).

Professor Brown said today that the newly-published study by a team of scientists from the Australian National University and the University of Sydney had come as “a complete surprise – but a pleasant surprise”.

“The study – which uses a different approach to the analysis of our published data – is a good example of the process by which the scientific community verifies new findings,” he said. “There have been unsubstantiated suggestions that the remains could be those of a deformed – or very short – modern person. While such suggestions can be seen as part of that process of verification, the newly-published study is an important step towards the general acceptance of our conclusions.”

Professor Brown will tell the story of the discovery and its epoch-making implications in a public lecture in Brisbane this evening [Thursday 13 July]. Titled “Once upon a time .... The life and times of Homo floresiensis”, the lecture will be at the Queensland Museum (Lecture Theatre 2), Southbank, at 6.30 pm. It will be followed by a light supper and drinks, during which people will have a chance to talk to Professor Brown about his work.

The new paper, published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, is titled “Homo floresiensis: Microcephalic, pygmoid, Australopithecus, or Homo?” The researchers used a sophisticated technique called “multivariate analysis” to compare skull measurements of Homo floresiensis with those of diseased (microcephalic) modern humans, other modern humans including African pygmies and Andaman Islanders, a “pygmoid” excavated from another cave on Flores, and the extinct human relatives Australopithecus and Paranthropus. They concluded that, as the Homo floresiensis remains could not be identified with any known species, their original identification as representing a new human species was justified.

The paper supports the proposal of Professor Morwood and Professor Brown, published in Nature in 2004 and 2005, that Homo floresiensis, after emerging from Africa several million years ago, reached Indonesia and survived on Flores until 12,000 years ago. “It’s good that an Australian team has been the one to come up with this independent verification,” Professor Brown said. “There will be many more articles – by me and my colleagues, and by others – on this subject, but I’m sure the substance of the discovery will stand up.”


FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS EVENING'S LECTURE, contact Kerry De Jong (UNE Events Coordinator) on 0400 428 441.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at July 13, 2006 11:41 AM