Further evidence for small-bodied hominins from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia

Abstract

Homo floresiensis was recovered from Late Pleistocene depositson the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, but has the stature,limb proportions and endocranial volume of African PlioceneAustralopithecus [1]. The holotype of the species (LB1), excavated in2003 from Liang Bua, consisted of a partial skeleton minus thearms. Here we describe additional H. floresiensis remains excavatedfrom the cave in 2004. These include arm bones belonging tothe holotype skeleton, a second adult mandible, and postcranialmaterial from other individuals. We can now reconstruct the bodyproportions of H. floresiensis with some certainty. The findsfurther demonstrate that LB1 is not just an aberrant or pathologicalindividual, but is representative of a long-term populationthat was present during the interval 95–74 to 12 thousand yearsago. The excavation also yielded more evidence for the depositionalhistory of the cave and for the behavioural capabilities ofH. floresiensis, including the butchery of Stegodon and use of fire.