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Susan Hayes with fellow researchers
Hayes ' background in forensic science helped her reconstruct the face of the famous three - foot ( one - meter ) , 30 - year - old distaff " Hobbit " uncovered in 2003 . She is pictured here , at right , with Judy Raper and Richard Fullagar , fellow research worker at the University of Wollongong in Australia .
Skull under scrutiny
Hayes ( right ) look at a replica of Homo floresienses with University of Wollongong researcher Penny Williamson .
Hobbit Declared a New Species as Debate Continues
Virtual endocasts ( red ) from sectional skulls ( blue ) of a human microcephalic ( left ) and LB1 ( right ) , the fossil specimen of Homo floresiensis . icon were produce using three - dimensional computed tomography ( 3D - CT ) .
Homo floresiensis
mental image
Exposing new layers
A team of researchers unearth in the limestone cave call Liang Bua , on the Indonesian island of Flores . The scientist exposed part of the Indonesian cave that had n’t been seen in the original excavations . Their work revealed that layer of sediment in the cave were not deposited evenly . That uneven layering may have thrown off earlier years estimate for the cave deposits , they said . Their employment , bear witness thatthe hobbit vanished from the island earlier than previously thought , is detailed in the March 31 , 2016 , issue of the journal Nature .
Deep dives
Archaeological excavations at Liang Bua cave can hit depth of more than 26 feet ( 8 meters ) , as shown in this pic . The analysis , detail in March 2016 in the daybook Nature , showed that the hobbits used the cave between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago ; they were probable not there as recently as about 12,000 geezerhood ago , which had been suggested antecedently . So the hobbits may not have known their heavy - bodied relatives .
" There was no extended period of overlap between the two species , as far as we can ascertain , " said study co - author Richard " Bert " Roberts , a geochronologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia . " In fact , we do n’t even fuck if they overlapped at all . "
Hobbit Relatives
Stone tools discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi date back at least 118,000 years propose that an unknown lineage of toolmakers , relatives of the midget " hobbit " once lived there . [ understand the full story on the inscrutable hobbit relative ]
Toolmakers' Tools
The stone flakes , or sharp artifact probably used for sheer or scrap , are the earliest planetary house of hominins seen on Sulawesi yet , said the researchers who detail their work in the Jan. 14 , 2016 , issue of the daybook Nature .
Nestled near Flores
The excavations of the cryptic hobbit relation took shoes near the Greenwich Village of Talepu on Sulawesi . The island itself sit just north of Flores , where scientist in 2003 unearthed 18,000 - class - erstwhile dodo belonging to a hominin with a Citrus paradisi - size brain who has been dubbed the hobbit for its diminutive sizing ( 3 - foot , or 1 meter , tall ) .
Talepu excavation
scientist excavate at the Talepu website on Sulawesi , where they found evidence of a tool - making hominin . " Now , we can lead off taste to find fossil grounds of the makers of these ancient tools , " wind author Gerrit van hideaway Bergh , a paleontologist and zooarchaeologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia , told Live Science .
