Homo Floresiensis

Jungers, William L.

doi:10.1002/9781118332344.ch30

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Cox and Moore, 2010;Mason et al, 2011). It should be noted that some authors consider dwarfing an unlikely explanation for its stature, preferring an evolution from a smaller bodied ancestor such as Homo habilis (Jungers, 2013), but this is not confirmed (Kubo et al, 2013). Here, the question of interest to us is simply the small size of H. floresiensis, rather than how it became small.…”

Section: Dwarfingmentioning

confidence: 89%

The origins and persistence of Homo floresiensis on Flores: biogeographical and ecological perspectives

Dennell

Louys

O’Regan

et al. 2014

Quaternary Science Reviews

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The finding of archaeological evidence predating 1 Ma and a small hominin species (Homo floresiensis) on Flores, Indonesia, has stimulated much research on its origins and ancestry. Here we take a different approach and examine two key questions -1) how did the ancestors of H. floresiensis reach Flores and 2) what are the prospects and difficulties of estimating the likelihood of hominin persistence for over 1 million years on a small island? With regard to the first question, on the basis of the biogeography we conclude that the mammalian, avian, and reptilian fauna on Flores arrived from a number of sources including Java, Sulawesi and Sahul. Many of the terrestrial taxa were able to float or swim (e.g. stegodons, giant tortoises and the Komodo dragon), while the rodents and hominins probably accidentally rafted from Sulawesi, following the prevailing currents.The precise route by which hominins arrived on Flores cannot at present be determined, although a route from South Asia through Indochina, Sulawesi and hence Flores is tentatively supported on the basis of zoogeography. With regards to the second question, we find the archaeological record equivocal. A basic energetics model shows that a greater number of small-bodied hominins could persist on Flores than larger-bodied hominins (whether H. floresiensis is a dwarfed species or a descendent of an early small-bodied ancestor is immaterial here), which may in part explain their apparent long-term success. Yet the frequent tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in the region would certainly have affected all the taxa on the island, and at least one turnover event is recorded, when Stegodon sondaari became extinct. The question of the likelihood of persistence may be unanswerable until we know much more about the biology of H. floresiensis. 2

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Section: Dwarfingmentioning

confidence: 89%

The origins and persistence of Homo floresiensis on Flores: biogeographical and ecological perspectives

Dennell

Louys

O’Regan

et al. 2014

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…afarensis femur (A.L.827-1) plots within the modern human scatter, but its conspecific female (A.L.288-1) does not; this could imply an unusual degree of shape dimorphism and possibly reflects sex-related differences in body size, body shape and locomotor function. If Homo floresiensis were a scaled-down H. erectus, which we regard as unlikely [51,73], then LB1's limb lengths and interlimb proportions would imply a homoplastic convergence (i.e. an evolutionary reversal) onto A.L.288-1 that might be driven by the biomechanics of climbing.…”

Section: Size and Limb Proportionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of body size and shape in the human career

Jungers

Grabowski

Hatala

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 17 to a discussion meeting issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'. Body size is a fundamental biological property of organisms, and documenting body size variation in hominin evolution is an important goal of palaeoanthropology. Estimating body mass appears deceptively simple but is laden with theoretical and pragmatic assumptions about best predictors and the most appropriate reference samples. Modern human training samples with known masses are arguably the 'best' for estimating size in early bipedal hominins such as the australopiths and all members of the genus Homo, but it is not clear if they are the most appropriate priors for reconstructing the size of the earliest putative hominins such as Orrorin and Ardipithecus. The trajectory of body size evolution in the early part of the human career is reviewed here and found to be complex and nonlinear. Australopith body size varies enormously across both space and time. The pre-erectus early Homo fossil record from Africa is poor and dominated by relatively small-bodied individuals, implying that the emergence of the genus Homo is probably not linked to an increase in body size or unprecedented increases in size variation. Body size differences alone cannot explain the observed variation in hominin body shape, especially when examined in the context of small fossil hominins and pygmy modern humans.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.

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“…The skeletal remains of this new species are known from the Late Pleistocene strata at Liang Bua, a limestone cave on the island. Morphology of its cranium, endocast, mandible, shoulder girdle, pelvis, limb bones, hand, and foot have been described, analyzed, and interpreted (Brown et al, 2004;Morwood et al, 2005;Falk et al, 2005Falk et al, , 2009Argue et al, 2006Argue et al, , 2009Larson et al, 2007Larson et al, , 2009Tocheri et al, 2007;Gordon et al, 2008;Baab and McNulty, 2009;Brown and Maeda, 2009;Fransiscus, 2009, 2012;Jungers et al, 2009a, b;Lyras et al, 2009;Aiello, 2010;Kaifu et al, 2011;van Heteren, 2012;Baab et al, 2013;Jungers, 2013;Kubo et al, 2013;Orr et al, 2013;Daegling et al, 2014). However, not all the dental remains have been described in sufficient detail, and there even exists controversy as to whether the dental morphology of H. floresiensis is primitive or modern (Jacob et al, 2006;Brown and Maeda, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Descriptions of the dental remains of <i>Homo floresiensis</i>

Kaifu

Kono

Sutikna

et al. 2015

Anthropological Science

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Dental remains of Homo floresiensis excavated during [2002][2003][2004] at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia, consist of one partial maxillary dentition, two nearly complete mandibular dentitions, and four isolated teeth. We present here morphological descriptions of all these specimens and report aspects of their dentition, occlusion, and oral health condition. This dental assemblage represents probably five but possibly four or six individuals. These different individuals share similar dental characteristics, supporting the view that the Liang Bua H. floresiensis assemblage represents a single population. We also reassess the previous claims for primitive and modern aspects of the H. floresiensis teeth. The previous studies reached conflicting conclusions: some researchers claim that these teeth are fully modern, whereas others highlight premolar and other morphologies that suggest their direct evolutionary link with the African earliest form of Homo or Australopithecus rather than with H. erectus. Neither of these views are supported. The H. floresiensis teeth exhibit a mosaic of primitive, derived, and unique characters, with the reported primitive aspects broadly comparable to the morphologies observed in H. erectus sensu lato. Although a more comprehensive comparative analysis is needed to fully illustrate dental morphological affinities of this dwarfed hominin species, we find no grounds for the hypothesis that H. floresiensis originated from the small-bodied, primitive hominins such as H. habilis sensu lato.

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Homo Floresiensis

Cited by 8 publications

References 52 publications

The origins and persistence of Homo floresiensis on Flores: biogeographical and ecological perspectives

The origins and persistence of Homo floresiensis on Flores: biogeographical and ecological perspectives

The evolution of body size and shape in the human career

Descriptions of the dental remains of <i>Homo floresiensis</i>

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