Early humans, Homo floresiensis, are said to still inhabit the interior of Flores. A number of experts believe this, one of them is a professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta Gregory Forth.
"My goal in writing this book is to find the best explanation, namely the most rational and empirically supported, of Lio's story about these creatures," Forth wrote in the article as quoted by IFL Science.
"This included sighting reports by over 30 eyewitnesses, all of whom I spoke to directly. And I concluded that the best way to explain what they were telling me was that non-sapiens hominins had survived on Flores until recently or recently. this," he explained.
Of course, this opinion has no proof and has also been refuted by other experts. The following is what is known so far about Homo floresiensis, an ancient human who is believed to still live in the forests of Flores, according to CNN Indonesia.
1. Small in size
The journal Nature found a Homo floresiensis fossil in the form of an adult woman aged around 30 years with a height of only about 106 cm. Their tiny bodies made Homo floresiensis known as 'The Hobbit'.
As for physical form, Homo floresiensis had large teeth, a small brain, shoulders that pulled forward, no chin, receding forehead and large legs because they were short. Why is the brain small? Likely, this resulted from island dwarfism, an evolutionary process resulting from long-term isolation on a small island with limited food sources and a lack of predators.
2. Years of life of Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis is an ancient hominin that lived approximately 17 thousand years ago. Homo floresiensis fossils are predicted to be around 100-60 thousand years ago, while the stone tools made by these creatures are between 190-50 thousand years ago.
3. Live hunting
For daily feeding, these individuals use stone tools to hunt for food. There are also animals that he hunts are small elephants and rats. Apart from that, it is said that Homo floresiensis also hunted Stegodon (an extinct elephant) because hundreds of Stegodon bone fragments were found in the Homo floresiensis population layer.
Their survival abilities are also very good, they are reported to be able to fight predators such as the giant Komodo dragon by using fire.
4. Lineage
When it was first discovered, Homo floresiensis was thought to have descended from the Javanese Homo erectus. However, a more detailed analysis of the skeletal remains revealed features that were more ancient than those of Asian Homo erectus. Rather, they are more similar to the australopithecus, Homo habilis or hominins from Dmanisi in Georgia (classified as Homo ergaster or Homo georgicus).