14 November 2023 , 20:43
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For many, the idea that an extinct early human species is actually alive and well in a remote part of the world sounds completely far fetched.
However, for one anthropologist the possibility of this is a plausible reality. Around 20 years ago scientists were looking for evidence of human migration from Asia to Australia.
While doing this, they discovered a small yet complete skeleton of a Homo floresiensis on the island of Flores in Indonesia. The discovered skeleton was quickly dubbed the "hobbit" - after the tiny JRR Tolkien characters - due to its diminutive stature of just 3ft 6ins.
The Homo floresiensis has been dubbed 'the hobbit' thanks to its small size (Stuart Hay / SWNS.com)Initial studies on the skeleton suggested that these early humans became extinct around 12,00 years ago. Further analysis then led scientists to believe that they may instead have vanished off the Earth 50,000 years ago.
However, Gregory Forth claims that some of our ancient relatives are still alive today. The retired professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta told Live Science: "We simply don't know when this species became extinct or indeed dare I say — I did dare say — we don't even know if it is extinct. So there is some possibility that it is still alive."
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He also claimed in his thesis last year in The Scientist that he had even spoken with people who said they saw something resembling a Homo floresiensis. Gregory wrote: "My aim in writing the book was to find the best explanation - that is, the most rational and empirically best supported - of Lio accounts of the creatures.
"These include reports of sightings by more than 30 eyewitnesses, all of whom I spoke with directly. And I conclude that the best way to explain what they told me is that a non-sapiens hominin has survived on Flores to the present or very recent times."
Other experts in the field have been quick to dismiss Gregory's theory, though. As John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Live Science: "Flores is an island that has about the same area of Connecticut and has two million people living on it today. Realistically, the idea that there's a large primate that is unobserved on this island and surviving in a population that can sustain itself is pretty close to zero."