The Hobbit Age

The human species nicknamed “the Hobbit” went extinct at least 50,000 years ago and not 12,000 years ago, a new analysis has revealed.

20:32 01 April 2016

The diminutive human species nicknamed “the Hobbit” were thought to have gone extinct 12,000 years ago. However, a new analysis has presented new evidence that the creature could have ben been alive in the quite recent past or at least 50,000 years ago.

 

Prof Bert Roberts, from the University of Wollongong, Australia, says that new information made more sense as it wasn’t possible for floresiensis to survive for 30,000 to 40,000 years after modern humans have passed through Indonesia.

 

He said: "Well, it now seems we weren't living alongside this little species for very long, if at all. And once again it smells of modern humans having a role in the downfall of yet another species,"

 

"Every time modern humans arrived somewhere new, it tended to be bad news for the endemic fauna. Things would go pear-shaped pretty quickly."

"We have some stone tools that were 50,000 years old and these were very likely made by Hobbits," explained Prof Roberts.

 

"We say 'very likely', not because they were small stone tools able to fit in their hands, but because they were made from a volcanic rock called silicified tuff, which they seemed to prefer.

 

"When modern humans came through that region, we used stone tools made of chert, for example.

 

"So, 50,000 years ago is when the Hobbits disappear, as far as we can determine. But then we haven't excavated the whole cave yet."