Compare the Brains
LB1 a new species?
LB1's similarity to H. erectus, which is thought to have
arrived on Flores by 800,000 years ago, led Falk and her colleagues
to an original conclusion. While it is possible, they say, that
H. floresiensis was a dwarf species of
H. erectus unique to Flores, they offer an alternative
hypothesis. H. floresiensis and H. erectus, they
suggest, may have shared a common, currently unidentified ancestor,
one that had a small brain and a small body. About all anyone seems
to agree on is that the hobbit is a fascinating new addition to the
puzzle of human origins and that more work, including DNA studies,
may help clarify things.