Re: Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton

From: Antti Jarvi (no-forename.jarvi_at_icon.fi)
Date: 10/29/04 

Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:33:22 +0300

"MrPepper11" <MrPepper11@go.com> kirjoitti viestissä
news:57cfd534.0410281236.1d45d2d8@posting.google.com...
> "Clayton <Insert Pop Culture Pun Here>" <cjfat@SPAMBLOCKphonyemail.com>
wrote in message news:<4180a7b3$0$32599$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au>...
> > "MrPepper11" <MrPepper11@go.com> wrote in message
> > news:57cfd534.0410270938.209bfc3e@posting.google.com...
> > > October 27, 2004
> > > Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton
> > > By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
> >
> > They just had a story about this on the Channel 10 news....with the
> > reporter, not just once but several times claiming this find "shatters
the
> > theory of evolution!!!"
>
> It boggles the mind to see today's news headlines. The reporters
> should have educated themselves with something like this interview
> with Bernard Wood:
>
> ABC Online
> Anthropologist says new skeleton discovery most significant in 100
> years
> Thursday, 28 October , 2004
> Reporter: Alison Caldwell
>
> HAMISH ROBERTSON: One of the world's leading anthropologists has
> described the find as the most significant discovery about human
> evolution for the last hundred years.
>
> Bernard Wood is Professor of Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy
> at George Washington University in the United States. He believes the
> Flores Man is a distant ancestor of Homo Sapiens, and there could have
> been many more similar hominids on other islands around the region.
>
> Bernard Wood has been speaking to Alison Caldwell.
>
> BERNARD WOOD: I just think it's the most amazing thing that I've seen
> in my professional lifetime - it's just a dwarf version of what our
> ancestors were like probably about one-and-a-half million years ago.
>
> ALISON CALDWELL: What does it mean for the evolutionary theory? What
> we have to come to accept is that there's this line, there are apes at
> one end and there are human beings at the other end. Where do these
> little hominids sit?
>
> BERNARD WOOD: It doesn't change it at all. It doesn't change it at
> all. I mean, these creatures are the descendants of our ancestors,
> about somewhere between one and two million years ago.
>
> The fact that they have survived as an isolated community right up
> until 18,000 years ago doesn't alter their biology. They are what they
> are. They aren't miniature little modern humans, they are, if you look
> at their skeletons, it has all the hallmarks of what our ancestors
> would have looked like one-and-a-half million years ago.
>
> And all that's happened is that they have dwarfed and they have kept
> themselves to themselves. It just means that the group that we
> recognise from one-and-a-half million years, that we thought had
> become extinct, managed to maintain a sort of tenuous existence on
> this island.
>
> And for all I know there may be the equivalent on other islands, and
> they became. or this individual died or was killed 18,000 years ago,
> my guess is because modern humans happened then to reach Flores, and I
> don't think these would have stood much of a chance if they had come
> face to face with homo sapiens at 18,000 years.
>
> ALISON CALDWELL: Is it possible these little hominids could also be
> elsewhere on other islands around the region?
>
> BERNARD WOOD: I think it's entirely possible. And what's interesting
> is that our view of human evolution, which has been based on Africa,
> where there is insularity, because zoologists will tell you that they
> think one major lake basin may not. may have their own flora and
> fauna, their own specific flora and fauna. it's the first time we've
> seen what human evolution might be like in an environment where you
> have the potential for groups of creatures to be on an island and then
> to be essentially undisturbed for literally maybe a million years.
>
> ALISON CALDWELL: But what about the scientists who say that Flores Man
> doesn't belong in the genus homo at all, even if it was a recent
> contemporary?
>
> BERNARD WOOD: Well, I think that's like saying this sort of dwarf
> elephant that they've found on the island doesn't belong to the genus
> stegodon. It's just a dwarfed version.
>
> And Homo floresiensis is a dwarfed version of Homo Agasta (phonetic)
> or early African Homo Erectus. Just because it has a small brain
> doesn't mean it's an ape. I mean, that just shows a sort of lack of
> imagination.
>
> HAMISH ROBERTSON: Bernard Wood, who is the Henry R Luce Professor of
> Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy at George Washington
> University. He was speaking to Alison Caldwell.

Very good views above!
As far as I remember Homo erectus remains have been found in different parts
of Asia, These date all times during the whole preceeding million years.
These Forens men skeletons look very similar to other erectus findings. They
are smaller, but so aremany other sub species living isolated on islands. So
I would like to see them called Homo erectus florensis. Their forefathers
arrived on this island 100 000 years ago or earlier. So they had had enough
time to get here accidentally in a flood situation on a floating tree or
debris.

The latest remains date 18 000 Bp, this is very close to the time when the
first Homo sapiens sapiens reached Australia most likely via Flores island

Antti Järvi
antti.noforename@icon.fi

18.000 years Bp is very closely the tim

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton
    ... > Bernard Wood is Professor of Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy ... > face to face with homo sapiens at 18,000 years. ... > have the potential for groups of creatures to be on an island and then ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton
    ... >> Bernard Wood is Professor of Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy ... >> face to face with homo sapiens at 18,000 years. ... >> have the potential for groups of creatures to be on an island and then ... > As far as I remember Homo erectus remains have been found in different ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton
    ... >> Bernard Wood is Professor of Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy ... >> face to face with homo sapiens at 18,000 years. ... >> have the potential for groups of creatures to be on an island and then ... > As far as I remember Homo erectus remains have been found in different ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton
    ... Bernard Wood is Professor of Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy ... Flores Man is a distant ancestor of Homo Sapiens, ... been many more similar hominids on other islands around the region. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton
    ... Bernard Wood is Professor of Human Origins and Human Evolution Anatomy ... Flores Man is a distant ancestor of Homo Sapiens, ... been many more similar hominids on other islands around the region. ...
    (sci.anthropology)
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