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"Flores woman" star of new permanent display

November 20, 2006

HFlores.thumb.jpgA life-sized reconstruction of the tiny woman known as “Flo” (for “Flores woman”) will be part of a permanent display at The University of New England about the momentous discovery of the extinct human species Homo floresiensis on the Indonesian island of Flores.

A team of Australian and Indonesian scientists, assisted by local Mangarrai people, discovered the skeletal remains of the metre-tall woman when excavating in Liang Bua Cave, Flores, in 2003. The team, led by UNE archaeologist Professor Mike Morwood, has since unearthed the remains of other H. floresiensis individuals in the cave. The media were quick to nickname the new species “the Hobbit”.

Professor Morwood will talk about the discovery and its implications during a function on Monday 27 November to celebrate the mounting of the display. This public event, at which everyone is welcome, will be at 5 pm on the mezzanine floor of UNE’s Dixson Library. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, will officially launch the display, which has been assembled by representatives of UNE’s Museum of Antiquities.

Dr Carol Lentfer, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, created the figure of Flo using scientific data published by the research team. The display also contains stone tools found alongside the human bones, a cast of Flo’s skull and lower jaw, and a cast of her 380 cc brain. (Her brain size is graphically compared with that of modern humans: 1,300 cc.)

Scientific work illustrated in photographs includes that of UNE’s Professor Peter Brown, the palaeoanthropologist who determined that the remains were those of a hitherto unknown human species. There are photographs showing the reconstruction of Flo’s head and face, and the association of H. floresiensis bones, stone tools, and the bones of pygmy stegodon (an extinct type of elephant) in deposits laid down 15,000 years ago. There is also a three-dimensional model of the excavation site.

To assist with catering for next Monday's event, at which drinks and finger food will be served, people intending to attend should contact Sharyn Lansley on (02) 6773 2166 or e-mail: hobbitevent@une.edu.au.

THE PICTURE displayed here is an impression of Homo floresiensis published in 2004 at the time of the original research reports. Visitors to the new display will be able to compare this image with the recreation of "Flo".

Posted by Jim Scanlan at November 20, 2006 05:52 PM