I found learning about the evolution of modern humans very interesting. The the little wrinkle in our story of human evolution which is Homo floresiensis especially interested me. I had heard vague stories of a small type of human which had roamed the earth, and it always reminded me of fairytailes, yet this is true – as well as their being amongst a sort of dragon. Their fossil remains were found on a remote island in indonesia, called Floors,the location signaling that paleoanthropologists would need to change their theory of when early humans migrated from Africa.
Initially, scientists thought that human migration had only occurred after humans developed a long enough gate to travel distances easily, as with homo erectus. The findings of Homo floresiensis contradict this story.
What was found was that Homo Floresiensis is anatomically most similar to Homo habilis, who existed roughty 2 million years ago, long before scientists had initially theorised that the first migration out of Africa occurred. This implies that the ancestors of Homo Floresiensis migrated almost halfway across the earth when Homo habilis wandered Africa. This feat is impressive, because Homo Floresiensis and Homo Habilis were far from being efficient at traveling long distances. This would seem to imply that migration, and our subsequent adaptability to environments is not wholly predicated upon intellect or upright posture; for the Ancestors of Homo Floresiensis did it without both. It makes me wonder, what are sufficient conditions for a species to migrate extensively across the planet and find themselves capable of living in those locations?
Paleontologists have studied these remains largely by looking to their anatomy, and doing comparative analysis of them. All of the conclusions which I brought here are only true if it is the case that Homo Floresiensis was closely related to Homo Habilis. If their similarity in appearance is only chance, and they actually only migrated 1.1 million years ago (the age of the stone tools found on Floors), then it is also possible that either Homo erectus or the direct predecessor of Homo Erectus made it to Floors and then evolved as pygmy elephants did – shrank – and became more fit to their new environment.
The largest contribution these findings made to the study of human diversity is claim that we have had much more diverse human relatives in our recent past, as recent as 17,000. At that point, Homo floresiensis existed alongside anatomically modern humans. What this also shows us is that diversity in our genetic code only maintains itself when our populations remain isolated. If Homo floresiensis had not been stranded on this island, it is more than likely that they would have interbreed with other humans as we evolved, simply merging into our genetic profile. It seems to point to our willingness to interbreed as why we have not produced a plethora of specialized human populations who are ultimately more divers.
Hi Liam!
I really enjoyed your post because I had personally chosen to focus on Neanderthals, thus making your in-depth analysis of Homo floresiensis very interesting to me. I too found it incredible that this species was able to travel the immense distances that it supposedly did with its less than equipped physical or mental form. It seems as though it would require a certain standard of intelligence or strength in order to make such a trek, yet the lack of physical prowess and brain capacity Homo floresiensis appeared to have placed it into a unique category where the accomplishments of a species outweigh their apparent abilities. It raises certain questions regarding the reasoning behind this long journey, the answer to this question having the ability to explain a great deal regarding the habits and changes Homo floresiensis went through throughout its existence.
I also focused on the Homo Floresiensis, and though it was really interesting, it also made me realize how much the general public doesn’t necessarily understand about evolution, myself included. In general, I think we all think about primates as being our ancestors (modern chimps and apes), even though it’s more like they’re our genetic cousins. Additionally, we talk about neanderthals as “cavemen” as a catch-all for who came before us. Now, we’re learning about hobbit-like creatures that got to an island in an unknown way and who disappeared only 17,000 years ago. I’ve really enjoyed learning about all of the diversity and the complexities of both human life and primate life. I think it’s really important to understand how intricate evolution is, and I wish that it was taught more clearly in primary school.