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The Hobbit a Small Human on Flores Is Proven

Many people have written off the "hobbit" find as being just a joke, a sad hoax played on society. However, finding tiny "humans" is, apparently, real. Most scientists have accepted it though some still scoff at the whole issue without looking into it.

In 2004 archaeologists in Indonesia found skeletons, not fossils, skeletons of small human-like creatures who lived on the island of Flores as recently as 18,000 years ago. While humans spread around the world, these small "humans" carried on hunting pygmy elephants and other local species in isolation. Flint flakes found in million year old volcanic sediment show hobbit activity there a very long time ago.

The question is - When did the early humans leave Africa? Considering Man left the continent no more than 100,000 years ago why did other excursions of early man end in extinction? At least one group survived long enough to enlighten us about the numerous times humans left Africa. Evidence from bone structure shows that the hobbit descended from an earlier type of human than the small-brained Homo erectus which left two million years ago.

Spending time considering how hobbit came to be on Flores is quite irrelevant. Whether they went by boat, raft or just walked when a land bridge appeared, they got there and thrived.

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Fossilised Eggshells Are Ideal for Extracting DNA

Jurassic Park is getting closer to reality. Australian scientists have managed to get DNA from fossilised eggshells of extinct birds. The Team warns though that bringing ancient creatures back to life is a long way off. Particles of fossilised eggshells from Australia, New Zealand and Madagascar were used in the research.

A target species was the Moa bird which lived in New Zealand into the 18th century. Another was the Elephant Bird extinct in Madascar during the 17th century. Older bird were also worked on: the New Zealand Duck, Australian Owl and an Emu which was 19,000 years old. In work on older fossils, results did not come up with usable DNA.

Techniques used were the usual reduction of sample and polymeras amplification. These were very short pieces of DNA obtained from minute samples. Eggshells were found to be even better than bones and hair for storing DNA.