like species of humans may have colonized the Indonesian island of Flores as far back as a million years ago, much earlier than thought, according to a new study published Thursday. These early ancestors, or hominins, were previously thought to have arrived on the island about 800,000 years ago but artifacts found in a new archeological site suggest they might have been around even earlier. In a paper published in Nature, researchers said their findings suggest these hominins may have evolved into tiny hobbit-like humans, or “Flores man,” who stood about a meter tall and had skulls the size of grapefruit. Skeletal remains of an 18,000-year-old “Flores man” were discovered about five years ago and scientists then determined it belonged to a species of human completely new to science. Named Homo floresiensis, after the island on which it was found, the tiny human has also been dubbed “hobbit.” In their paper, the researchers said they found 45 stone tools in Wolo Sege in the Soa basin in Flores. Led by Adam Brumm at the Center of Archeological Science in the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, the researchers used new dating methods and found that the stone tools were about a million years old.
