Homo floresiensis is a regional archaic that comes from a small island of Flores in Indonesia and are from about 100,000 to 50,000 years ago. They were isolated on this island which lead scientists to believe they must have had to walk across continents, or they must have traveled by water if there was still land mass.
They stood to be about 3 feet tall and had an incredibly small brain comparable to cubic centimeters, having a much less complicated brain than what it possible evolved from. I think it’s really interesting that this species with such a small brain and less functioning to their brain with less complicated functioning is able to survive in an environment in isolation. That being said I Think it’s really interesting how they brainstormed how to survive and how to kill for their survival. Thinking of all these different things and environment that they lived in would even be hard for the modern human. Since they were in isolation that means they must have been set for their survival or self-sufficient. Much like how people today that live in isolation they live a primitive lifestyle still.
There are a lot of features similarly related to primitive features with long arms and flat un-arched feet. It was also found that homo floresiensis were hunters and hunted and ate animals. It is believed that they used rocks or stones to kill animals as there have been animals found that have stone imprints or markings on them which indicate this is how they were killed. This small size of only being 3 feet tall was found to known as evolutionary dwarfism and demonstrates distinct lineages that imply great variation in homo during the Pleistocene.
There are many contrasting ideals on when they existed and when they died. Some theories say that they died due to humans taking over the island, however some say they didn’t exist when modern humans did. Another theory is that when the volcano on the island erupted, the volcanic ash killed all the animals and vegetation which thus, killed the homo floresiensis. This claim was due to the discovery of volcanic ash on fossilized remains which indicates that an eruption may have wiped them out, however it’s not determined if that was the main cause.
The biggest contributions these findings have showed is that the homo floresiensis evolved by themselves in isolation on an island which can be compared to how humans now are evolving around the world. The fossilized remains have taught us so much as to why the species has the traits that we have and how we have differed. In this situation particularly, I think it shows how we use tools differently and how the species uses their body to hunt and survive especially on an island in complete isolation and how they may or may not have survived the volcano. The extinct species shows us how we have changed the way we function and how we survive which can be compared and show the progress we have made as a species to better survive and thrive.
Hi Madison! I also did my blog on the Homo Floresiensis and found the isolation dwarfism to be very interesting. I found it fascinating that this occurred in both the Homo Erectus species, as well as Pygmy elephants on the island of Flores. It is intriguing that instead of extinction due to limited resources, our bodies evolve to our skeleton to increase the ability to survive through ways such as shorter stature. I also found it fascinating that the Homo Floresiensis were able to create tools and use them to hunt small elephants with a small stature and small brain size. In my opinion, they defied what I would have expected with physical characteristics which is interesting. I like how you used the evolution on an isolated island to compare to humans evolving on different continents around the world.
Madison Diamond
Hi Madison, I really enjoyed your informative teaching of Homo Florensiensis to related to our human evolution. In contrast, I did my blog on Neanderthals, but after reading your response. I was fascinated with how small these species were in comparison to humans. I like how you correlated and made an inference that even though they had smaller brains and bodies, it wasn’t necessarily a disadvantage for them to travel in harsh environments. However, I did not know that it’s said that Homo Florensiensis became extinct because of the arrival of humans or the erupted volcanic ash that happened to wipe out that population to extinction. Lastly, I loved how you used the evolution of humans to differ they have changed the way we survived and adapt to these rough environments over time.
Hello Madison, I really enjoyed reading your post and feel that you made many great points. I was interested to learn about Homo floresiensis as I discussed neanderthals. I think it’s fascinating that they stood at about 3 feet tall and had a very small brain. It is in fact surprising that a species with such a small brain living in isolation is able to survive. I think it’s amazing that they were able to find means of survival and I am surprised that they were able to hunt and kill just by throwing stones. I agree that fossilized remains have taught us so much as to why the species has the traits that we have and how we have differed. This shows us how much organisms have evolved over time and what large changes have been made.
I did my blog post on Neanderthals, so I found your blog to be very interesting and informative. The size and brain function of Homo floresiensis is shockingly small and I too find it interesting that they were able to survive in an isolated environment with their body size. I think with a lot of the material we have learned that the environments role of survival and evolution is often overlooked. I would be curious to know exactly how Homo floresiensis died. If it was due to other humans taking over the island I would think there would be disputes over resource and land. Just like we compare the life of Homo floresiensis to modern humans I wonder if there will be any comparisons of their death to problems we face today as a species.
I read your post and it was interesting that you were able to capture the features of the homo floresiensis such as being primitive with long arms ad flat unarched feet. They would also participate in the hunting and eating of wild animals, which is something that can also be found to be similar to what the human beings used to do. When it comes to the issue of fossilized remains, I would say that they play a significant role in showing us the changes that have taken place in the, which means that they have a connection with the human beings. Therefore, the fossilized remains can be used by the scientists to show diversity among the human beings in terms of the growth that they have gone through over the years. I feel that you were able to capture this in our discussion post, which is important for the case of diversity in the species