HOBBIT BONES UNEARTHED IN INDONESIA
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[ October 16th 2005 ]

The age-old question on the origins of the human race has once again been called to order with the discovery of additional evidence unearthed in Indonesia of a second 'Hobbit' like race thought to have roamed the Earth the same time as man, Associated Press reports today.

The discovery of a jaw bone, to be reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, represents the ninth individual belonging to a group believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. The bones are in a wet cave on the island of Flores in the eastern limb of the Indonesian archipelago, near Australia, AP reports.

The tiny bones have enchanted many archaeologists who accept the interpretation that these diminutive skeletons belonged to a remnant population of prehistoric humans that were marooned on Flores with dwarf elephants and other miniaturized animals.

If proved true, the discovery grafts a strange and tangled evolutionary branch near the very top of the human family tree.