2. • Your report should answer all of the following:
• 1. Why is this considered one of the world’s greatest archaeological
finds?
• 2. Who found it? Is the person famous for other finds?
• 3. When was it found?
• 4. How was it found? Was it found accidentally or purposefully?
• 5. What archaeological techniques were used?
• 6. What difficulties were encountered? How were they overcome?
• 7. What artefacts were found and what do they reveal about the
culture/people who left them behind?
• 8. Where are the artefacts now?
• 9. Can people view them?
• 10. What has the find taught you about history and the work of
archaeologists and historians?
3. Why is the Hobbit a famous archaeological
find?
Because it is a new species of human which is very fascinating.
The hobbit is a lot smaller then the average human they are the
size of “little people”. There were story's of little people in the folk
tales of the native people of the Flores island. No one expected to
find other forms of humans in the region of the world where the
remains were found. The discovery raises questions about the
migrations of human species around the globe.
http://www.thelandofshadow.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/07/professor_mike_morwood_with_a_hobbit_skull_homo_floresiensis.jpg
downloaded16.02.2014
4. Who found it? Is the person famous for other finds?
Mike Morwoods research team discovered “the hobbit”.
He had done a lot of work on Australian Aboriginal Rock Art in
Queensland. He had also studied ancient stone tools. Many
people wonder how the Australian aboriginal people travelled to
Australia so long ago. Mike was investigating the similarity of
stone tools in Australia and Indonesia to see if this gave a clue to
how humans first came to Australia.
The limestone cave
Liang bu,a Flores
Island, Indonesia.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Homo_floresiensis_cave.jpg/
250px-Homo_floresiensis_cave.jpg downloaded 16.02.2014
5. When was the discovery made?
The discovery of human bones was
made on Flores an island of
Indonesia in 2003. Archaeologists
were studying stone tools. The
remains of nine individuals and
one complete skull were found
along with stone tools that were
from 94000 to 13000 years old.
The bones were found in the same
layer as the bones of an extinct
elephant of the genus Stegadon ( a
dwarf elephant). Other animals
present at the time include the
komodo dragon and giant rats.
6. Where was the discovery made?
Flores island is on the eastern
side of an imaginary line called
the Wallace Line. The Wallace
Line defines a biogeographical
region of the world. On the
Western side there are many
different species of mammals
compared to the Eastern side
of the Wallace line. The whole
Indonesion region is one of
complex ocean geography
where tectonic plates meet
and there is lots of earthquake
and volcano activity. The
region has extensive
biodiversity covering animals
plants and fish.
http://humanorigins.si.edu/research/asian-research/hobbits
7. What archaeological techniques were
used?
The remains of “the hobbit” were in a lime stone cave. So they
walked and walked and came across a cave and that was the cave
of the hobbits that is were they found the hobbits skeletons. But
they took paint brushes. While looking for evidence of ancient
stone tools one of the research team recognised that some of the
bones found were in fact those of human origin. This was a
surprise or accidental discovery.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3335112/Scientistsfind-new-species-of-3ft-humans.html downloaded 16.02.2014
8. Archaeology of the Liang Bua cave
The first scientific work at Liang Bua was undertaken in
1965 by father Theodorus Verhoeven, a catholic
missionary based at the Mataloko seminary. He first
visited the cave when it was being used as a local
elementary school. His excavations yielded high
concertrations of stone artefacts, burials and pottery,
which proved the archeological potential ot the
site.Liang Bua Cave, Flores island Indonesia After
Verhoeven, the next excavation were undertaken by
Prof.R.P.Soejono from the indonesian National
Research centre for Archaeology (now National
research and development centre for Archaeology)
between 1978 and 1989. This showed that the site
contained stratified cultural deposits spanning the
Palaeolithic, Mesolithic,Neolithic, and Palaeo-Metallic
periods. Radiocarbon dates from 3 metres depth also
showed that the site was occupied by modern humans
from at least 10.000 years ago.
The remains of Homo floresiensis were found 6 metres
under the surface of the cave.
http://www.floresexotictours.com/information/flores-hobbit
http://sososcience.com/tag/homo-floresiensis/ downloaded 16.02.2014
9. Difficulties encountered with the discovery
Many people did not believe
that “the hobbit” could be a
different species of human.
Many thought that the hobbits
were normal people with a
genetic mutation that caused
dwarfism.
The real story of human
evolution seems to have a lot
of missing information. Why
are there so few remains of
ancient humans?
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/homo_floresiensis.php downloaded 16.02.2014
10. Where are the artifacts now?
The artifacts could be at the Smithsonian Institute in America or Indonesia.
I could not find out if the artifacts can be viewed by the public.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/photogalleries/homo_floresiensis_1/images/primar
y/Homo-Chart.jpg downloaded 16.02.2014
11. The role of Archaeologists and
Historians
The role of archaeologists is to be very patient and show very close attention to detail
The role of historians to search for all sources of reliable information, test those
sources and preserve those records and report accurately their findings.
