Scientists Learn More About Our Hobbit Hominin Cousins
A new discovery tells us more about our human cousins, known as the Hobbits, and inspires even more questions
We, Homo sapiens, are the only Human species alive today, but we are by no means the only ones to have ever lived. We’re merely the last of a long line of hominin species to evolve. We even coexisted with a few of our hominin cousins before their lines disappeared, leaving us as the last surviving hominin on Earth — for better or worse.
The Neanderthals are our most well-known cousins, and we’re starting to learn more about the Denisovans. Not only did we coexist with these groups, we mated with them — as evidenced by their DNA within our modern DNA. But there are many other ancient hominin cousins we know little about. Scientists have recently gained more insights into one particular species, however, thanks to the discovery of the smallest human adult arm bone in the fossil record.
Initial Discoveries
It all started in the 1950s and ’60s with a university-educated Dutch priest named Father Theodor Verhoeven, who lived on today’s small Indonesian island of Flores, to the East of the larger Java island.
