homo floresiensis presentation

• “Mythological” human creatures

of the Island of Flores Indonesia

• Ebu means “grandmother”

• Gogo means “he who eats

everything”

• Small hairy creatures

• Ate everything raw

• Had their own language but

learned the human language as

well

• Ebu Gogo would raid crops, ad

crossed the line when a baby was

stolen and was eaten

• For this action they chased them

away

• They offered them bales of dry grass

as fodder

• They came back a few days later

with a burning bale of grass

• Ran the Ebu Gogo’s out of the cave

• Last seen heading west in the

direction of Liang Bua, where the

hobbit was found

• Father Theodor Verhoeven

• Years ago Vergoeven was brought to Flores to teach religion

• First used the cave as an elementary school

• Verhoeven then decided that the floor was a great excavation

project in 1950

• In 1960 large amounts of stone artifacts and pottery was found

• The first excavation lead by Raden Panji Soejono

• Director of ARKENAS

• National Research Centre for Archaeology

• Was planning to dig through the last 100,000 years

• It was believe this was the point in time there were humans,

although there were little evidence about the arrival of modern

humans and extinction of earlier human populations.

3.5 metres down

• Small body

• arm bone to leg bone ratio, baboon like

• was likely to adapt in trees than modern humans

• stout long-bone shafts and arm-bone to thigh bone ratio

• are more in accord with a four legged walker

• orients the long axes of its limbs bone oblique to the force of gravity

• Skull

• Very small with a very small vertically face

• Forehead is relatively high

• The cast of LB1 skull shows a very small brain

• Brain volume of 380cc comparable to living chimpanzees and below to

gorillas

• Tooth suggest wide range of foods like vertebrates, fruits, seeds,

tubers, and herbs

• Lower premolars

• Elongated and have double roots

• Upper premolars

• Correspondingly unique shape

• Both upper and lower rows are relatively narrow and the front teeth small

• Given its small body size insects may have provided a greater

percentage of the diet that large extinct hominids

• Homo floresiensis species isn’t a separate species at all,

but instead belonged to a group of modern humans

whose size was restricted because they had a disease

• Microcephaly

• An abnormally small head due to failure of brain growth

Island dwarfism- process that results from long-term

isolation on a small island with limited food resources and

lack of predators.

• Remains found were not

that of a new species at

all.

• Ancestors of modern human

pygmies who live on island

currently

• The features in LB1’s

cranium previously said to

be diagnostic of a new

species are still found in

the Rampasasa pygmies

on the island today.

For Macs: NOVA scienceNOW : 6 - Little people of flores

• "Claim of 'Hobbit' Species Discounted." LiveScience.com. LiveScience Staff, 21 Aug. 2006. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <http://www.livescience.com/992-claim-hobbit-species-discounted.html>.

• Ghosh, Pallab. "Study Backs 'hobbit' Island Dwarfism Theory." BBC News. BBC, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22166736>.

• Malory, Marcia. "Homo floresiensis – The Hobbit." Earth Facts. N.p., 18 Decem 2009. Web. 16 Oct 2013. <http://www.earthfacts.com/evolution/homofloresiensishobbit/>.

• "Microcephaly Definition - Medical Dictionary Definitions of Popular Medical Terms Easily Defined on MedTerms." Medterms. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. h

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4373>.

• Morwood, Mike J. , and Oosterzee Penny Van. A New Human. New York (N. Y.): Smithsonian /Collins, 2007. Print.

• NOVA ScienceNOW : 6 - Little People of Flores. YouTube. YouTube, 23 July 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMBlG-BaOEs>.

• Photograph. Website. 20 Oct. 2013. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iq2vQY1Jeaw/TG1iuWhkBjI/AAAAAAAAVe8/Z83qN0NQ9dg/s1600/ ebugogo3.jpg

• Sawyer, G. J., Viktor Deak, Esteban Sarmiento, Richard Milner, Donald C. Johanson, MeaveLeakey, and Ian Tattersall. The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-two Species of Extinct Humans. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. Print.

• “Villager Speak of the Small, Hairy Ebu Gogo.” Thetelegraph.com.uk. The Telegraph, 28 Oct. 2004. Web. 20 Oct. 2013

• Wen-M “Ebu Gogo.” Photograph. Website. Deviant Art. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. http://wen-m.deviantart.com/art/Day-3-EbuGogo-364413974