The face of Homo floresiensis, one of the most powerful characters in the human family tree, has been recreated by a small team of archaeologists and 3D designers. H. floresiensis, nicknamed the “hobbit” for its short stature, is an extinct archaic human species that was about 1.1 meters tall. Remarkably, this species walked the Earth at the same time as our own species, Homo sapiens, and is thought to have died out shortly after we arrived in the area, only about 50,000 years ago.
The remains of this little man were first discovered in 2003 on the Indonesian island of Flores. Since then, more than a dozen other specimens have been discovered on the island, but there are still many unknowns around the enigmatic species.
In the new study, the face of H. floresiensis was put together by carefully examining the species’ skull, using its shape and structure to assess how soft tissues fit into bone. The study was based on scans of LB1, a nearly complete skeleton of the species found at Liang Bua Cave in Flores.
Recreating a face using just a skull is not an exact science, so some artistic license is required. This is because the shape of the skull gives only a limited idea of what soft tissues such as muscle and fat will actually look like on a person’s face.
Also, no one is sure what the hair color of H. floresiensis is or how hairy it is, so some traits have to be guessed at with educated guesses.
Although the place of H. floresiensis in the human family tree is unknown, its skulls bear some resemblance to another well-known representative, Homo erectus.
The team that discovered H. floresiensis initially assumed that the H. erectus population came to Flores from Java. For hundreds of thousands of years, populations have been declining due to island dwarfism, a process by which animals become smaller when population range is limited to a small environment.
However, this is just a theory. Another widely debated idea is that the remnants of H. floresiensis are Homo sapiens, a congenital health disorder such as microcephaly that causes a smaller skull. There have even been doubts as to whether this species can truly be considered a member of the genus Homo, as it has many “archaic” features more similar to earlier human ancestors such as Australopithecus.
Even more confusing is that scientists have yet to extract DNA from the skeleton of H. floresiensis. Attempts were made in 2006 but were unsuccessful. For now, this genre remains as mysterious as before. However, thanks to this latest 3D reconstruction, we can only imagine what Homo floresiensis looked like. Peer-reviewed e-book OrtogOnline vol. 4.
Source: Port Altele
