Photo. Hobbits
from the movie Ring of the Lords. Copyright © New Line Cinema Production,
Inc.
Perhaps the author J.R.R. Tolkien of the book, which this movie is
based on, found his inspiration from true stories? The Homo floresiensis type
specimen, found at a depth of 5.9 metres in the limestone cave of Liang Bua on
Flores, Indonesia, can be associated with the mentioned Hobbits.
Skeletal remains show that the hominins, nicknamed "hobbits" by some of their
discoverers, were only one metre tall, had a brain one-third the size of that of
modern humans, and lived on an isolated island long after Homo sapiens had
migrated through the South Pacific region.
Australian archaeologists found the bones while digging at a site called
Liang Bua, one of numerous limestone caves on Flores. With the discovery of
Flores Man, a new species of human from just 18,000 years ago, reported in an
recently issue of Nature`s magazine and on its website (27 October 2004). Nature
is one of the world`s leading nature scientific magazines.
Homo floresiensis, nicknamed 'hobbits' by the
researchers, were tiny tool-making people, who hunted tiny elephants and
coexisted with modern humans colonizing the area. Details of the sensational
find are described in the journal Nature. Here you can read more about the
ongoing excavation and finds. Click on the link: www.nature.com.
These are the Hobbits in the movie Ring of the Lords
(from the official website for the Lord of the Rings - www.lordoftherings.net ):
- Frodo Baggins - Elijah Wood
- Sam (Samwise Gamgee) - Sean Astin
- Pippin (Peregrin Took) - Billy Boyd
- Merry (Meriadoc Brandybuck) - Dominic Monaghan
- Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm)
The characteristics of the Hobbits in the movie are (from
the official website for the Lord of the Rings - www.lordoftherings.net ):
- Hobbit height ranges between two and four feet tall.
- Hobbits have pointed ears.
- They have oversized feet and never wear shoes.
- Hobbits have curly hair.
- Hobbits love to eat (six substantial meals a day),
brew ale, smoke pipe weed, and garden in the Shire where they live.
- Hobbits discourage excessive or adventurous behaviour
which is why many were surprised that Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin went on
such an adventure as told in The Lord of the Rings
- Hobbits are generally very provincial in nature and
are typically untrusting of the outside world
- Some Hobbits have lived as long as 130 years, and
their average life span is 100 years. 33 years old, the age of Frodo Baggins,
is considered "Coming of Age" to adulthood.
- Hobbits are also called "Little Folk," "Little
People," or "Halflings."
- Hobbits speak a dialect of the common speech, Westron.
Dwarf hominid lived in Indonesia just 18,000 years ago. It sounds too
incredible to be true, but this is not a hoax. Researchers have so far unearthed
remains from eight individuals who were just one metre tall, with
grapefruit-sized skulls. These astonishing little people, nicknamed "hobbits",
made tools, hunted tiny elephants and lived at the same time as modern humans
who were colonizing the area.
These incredible find on Flores forces us to reconsider the evolution of humans and perhaps other
life on earth. As Nature consider it: the fact that little people feature in
the legends of modern Flores islanders suggests we might have to take
tales of Leprechauns and Yeti more seriously. Who knows what else might be out
there? And how will this find affects religious belief around the world?
Stein Morten Lund, 17 February 2005
Additional information
Click here for full
coverage on Nature`s website: www.nature.com/nature/focus/flores.
Presentation of Nature Publishing Group (NPG):
This company is the
scientific publishing arm of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, combining the excellence
of: Nature, Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, NPG academic journals and
NPG reference publications, to provide the world's premier information resource
for the basic biological and physical sciences.
NPG is a global company, with headquarters in London and offices in New York,
San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich and Basingstoke. More
than half of the company's business activity is in North America; it is also a
market leader in Europe and Japan.
For more information about the company and scientific information, click on
the link here: www.Nature.com.
Other relevant links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3948165.stm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3734946.stm
Relevant magazines:
Nature, 28/10/04, p.1029, 1043-1044,
1055-1061, 1087-1091
Science, 12/11704, Vol306, p. 1116
New Scientist,
30/10/04, p.8-10
New
York Times, 09/11/04
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