RI scientists refute Flores Man finding

RI scientists refute Flores Man finding

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta

A team of Indonesian scientists refuted on Friday a claim that
the skeleton of a dwarf-sized human species recently found on the
remote island of Flores would rewrite the evolutionary history of
mankind.

Speaking about the skeleton discovered in a limestone cave at
Liang Bua, paleoanthropology professor from Gadjah Mada
University, Teuku Jacob, said the skeleton was not that of a
member of a novel race dubbed Homo floresiensis by Australian
scientists Mike Morwood and Peter Brown, who announced their
discovery last week.

"The skeleton is not a new species as claimed by these
scientists, but simply a fossil of a modern human, Homo sapiens,
that lived about 1,300 to 1,800 years ago," Jacob told a press
conference.

He said the skeleton was of a member of the Australomelanesid
race, which had dwelled across almost all of the Indonesian
islands.

"So, if they (the Australian scientists) say the skeleton was
the ancestor of the Indonesian people, forget it," he added.

He acknowledged, however, the skeleton was indeed dwarf-sized
with a minuscule brain, and therefore, was different from common
Homo sapiens.

Jacob said the relatively smaller size of the skeleton was a
result of the inciter evolution, which took place as an impact of
the environment -- tiny islands -- in which the species had been
living in.

"The brain volume of this human being is estimated at about
380 cc, while the brain volume of a normal Homo Sapiens is 1,300
cc for females and 1,400 cc for males. With such a small brain
size, it's actually even smaller than that of a chimpanzee," said
Jacob.

The Australian scientists said in the journal Nature on
Wednesday of last week that the species is thought to be a
descendent of Homo erectus, which spread out from Africa to Asia
about 2 million years ago.

It became isolated on Flores and evolved into its dwarf form
to conform with local conditions, such as food shortages, they
said.

The Australians made the discovery together with their
Indonesian colleagues.

Contradicting the Australian claim, Jacob said the skeleton
was that of a male who died when he was 30.

"This finding is based on the shape of the eye socket and the
curves of the hip bone, which are more like a male's," Jacob
explained.

He also criticized the announcement of the discovery without
the consent of the Indonesian archeologists who participated in
the work, saying it was unethical.

A similar note was also expressed by Soejono, the head of the
National Archeology Institute, who said the Australians should
have involved them when making the announcement considering that
none of the Australian scientists were present at the time of the
discovery.

Soejono said Indonesian archeologists had started the research
work back in 1976 but were forced to halt it in the wake of the
1997 financial crisis.

"We continued the research later on by involving a team from
Australia before we discovered the skeleton in September. We
didn't immediately announce it because we needed to study the
fossil," said Soejono.

The two Indonesian archeologists said that the skeleton could
not be considered a fossil, but a sub-fossil.

"We would call it a fossil if everything has hardened. But we
were able to find soft tissue so that we could carry out a DNA
test. We couldn't do that if it was already a fossil," said
Soejono.