Meet our TINY ancient cousins! Newly-discovered hominin species that lived in Indonesia 700,000 years ago was just 3.2ft tall, study finds

J.R.R Tolkien mightiness person created nan world's astir celebrated hobbit almost 90 years ago, but scientists opportunity real-life hobbits are acold older than that.

Archaeologists person uncovered nan 700,000-year-old fossils of an ancient hominid ancestor of homo floresiensis - a quality comparative often known arsenic nan Hobbits.

The researchers uncovered nan fossilised bones of 4 individuals, including 2 children successful a heavy furniture of sandstone connected nan Island of Flores, Indonesia.

By comparing nan mini forearm bony to nan size of a modern human, nan researchers estimate that this hominid would person stood astatine conscionable 3.2ft (100cm) tall.

Co-author Professor Adam Brumm of Griffith University says: 'It is now evident from nan mini proportions of this limb bony that nan early progenitors of nan "Hobbit" were moreover smaller than we had antecedently thought.'

In 2003, researchers discovered nan remains of an ancient hominid type successful a cave called Liang Bua connected nan land of Flores, Indonesia.

Named homo floresiensis aft nan island, these quality relatives were conscionable 1 metre-tall, overmuch smaller than different known early hominins.

Experts judge they lived connected nan land arsenic precocious arsenic 50,000 years agone - erstwhile our ain type was already established successful Australia.

However, since their discovery, scientists person debated wherever these mini hominins whitethorn person travel from and why they evolved to beryllium truthful small.

Now, Professor Brumm and his co-authors judge they person recovered grounds which could yet supply an answer.

In their paper, published successful Nature Communications, nan researchers study nan find of an highly uncommon group of fossils which predate nan Liang Bua hominins by 650,000 years.

The researchers made their find successful an area called Mata Menge which lies 46 miles (75km) to nan eastbound of nan Liang Bua cave.

The bones were recovered successful a furniture of sandstone which had been deposited by a mini watercourse astir 700,000 years ago.

The 10 pieces of fossil belonged to 4 individuals and see teeth and a partial humerus, nan precocious limb bone.

This limb was acold smaller than thing nan researchers had expected to find, but integer microscopy of nan microstructure revealed that it was from an adult.

Co-author Professor Yousuke Kaifu, of nan University of Tokyo, says: 'When I first saw nan mini humerus, I thought it was a child's bone, but I became funny and was amazed erstwhile I looked up its developmental stage.'

At conscionable 211-220 millimetres long, this is nan smallest hominid humerus ever discovered successful an big hominid.

Previously, researchers had discovered teeth and moreover a jawbone successful this area, but nan find of nan humerus opened nan doorway to caller analysis.

Since it is very difficult to estimate nan size of an organism by looking astatine caput bones, researchers didn't cognize really large nan hominins astatine Mata Menge really were.

Co-author Dr Gerrit van de Bergh, of nan University of Wollongong, says: 'Initially, we didn’t admit nan humerus fragment, which was surgery successful respective pieces, arsenic belonging to a hominin, because we expected that nan toolmaker astatine Mata Menge would beryllium a large-bodied Homo erectus.

'But aft painstaking reconstruction by curator Indra Sutisna, nan fossil was recognized arsenic a hominin distal humerus fragment, and a very mini 1 for that matter.'

By comparing nan magnitude of nan reconstructed humerus to modern humans and primates, nan researchers were capable to estimate that these ancient hominins would person been 6cm smaller than homo floresiensis.

There are presently 2 rival theories to explicate really homo floresiensis came to unrecorded connected nan island.

The first argues that nan hominin was a peculiarly long-surviving comparative of an moreover much ancient African hominin which was very mini to statesman with.

The replacement argues that this type whitethorn person descended from a group of homo erectus which emerged connected nan adjacent Java and someway became trapped connected nan land and evolved to go importantly smaller.

This mentation gained immoderate support from nan truth that different type connected nan land grounds different assemblage sizes including mini elephants and elephantine rats.

However, these latest fossils carnivore beardown similarities to some homo floresiensis and homo erectus.

Professor Brumm says: 'The caller fossils powerfully propose that nan "Hobbit" communicative did so statesman erstwhile a group of nan early Asian hominins known arsenic Homo erectus someway became isolated connected this distant Indonesian island, possibly 1 cardinal years ago, and underwent a melodramatic assemblage size simplification complete time.'

That find shows that homo floresiensis must person evolved its diminutive stature overmuch earlier successful its evolutionary history than immoderate researchers had assumed.

Given that homo erectus arrived connected nan land 1 cardinal years ago, that would only time off astir 300,000 years to dramatically shrink.

However, nan researchers constituent retired that since these early hominids shared nan land pinch fearsome 3m-long komodo dragons for thousands of years, their mini stature was intelligibly not an evolutionary disadvantage.

The researchers write: 'This implies that elephantine reptilians did not correspond a superior predation threat for early H. floresiensis aliases its progenitors.

'The disposable fossil information connote that mini assemblage size had been a functional adjustment for these insular hominins during and somewhat beyond nan Middle Pleistocene and so perchance up until nan presence of H. sapiens [our homo species] connected Flores astir 50,000 years ago'.