The Forgotten People

Abstract

"No one expected to find a new species of early humans - and certainly not the remains of a pygmy people with a morphed evolutionary history."Liang Bua is an easy site to work on. No long treks with heavy loads required. Just get on one of the trucks that serve as local transportfor people, animals and goods, and after an hour on the rough road, flanked by terraced hillsides and valleys, you can clamber off at the entrance to the cave, which is obscured by coffee trees....It's not until you step inside the Liang Bua cave that you realise its enormous size. It is cathedral-like: a flat clay floor with immense chandeliers of stalactites suspended above, bent impossiblytowards the cave entrance. How any stay up there is a wonder. Occasionally they don't: bits of fallen stalactites litter the cave floor, probably brought down in the tremors so common to this region,one of the most volcanically active on Earth.The excavation was in full swing on 7 August 2003, with five Indonesian researchers, 40 local workers and myself. There was a general hum of activity: subdued voices, the throb from the generator set up outside the cave to provide lighting for the excavations. Two sectors were being excavated, IV and VII. The workers used bamboo stakes, trowels, metal~edged digging sticks, picks or crowbars. For at least six hours each day, they squatted on their haunches toiling with concentration and stamina.