Frodo, is that you? Face of a ‘real-life HOBBIT’ who lived in Indonesia 60,000 years ago is revealed

Frodo, is that you? Face of a ‘real-life HOBBIT’ who lived in Indonesia 60,000 years ago is revealed for the first time

  • Homo floresiensis is an extinct species of human nicknamed the ‘Hobbit’ 
  • Using a skull, researchers have reconstructed the species’ face for the first time 

When you think of Hobbits, a vision of Bilbo or Frodo Baggins might spring to mind. 

But Hobbits were once very much real, in the form of an ancient species called Homo floresiensis. 

Homo floresiensis was discovered in 2003, when its skeleton was found in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia.

Now, equipped with a digital model of the skull, a multinational team has rebuilt the skeleton’s face using data drawn from both modern humans and chimpanzees.

Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who co-authored the new study, described some of the differences between the species and humans today.

Homo floresiensis – an extinct species of human nicknamed the ‘Hobbit’ – was discovered in 2003, when its skeleton was found in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to guide how thick the tissue should be in a given place

But reconstructing the face of an extinct human species meant a new approach was required

Equipped with a digital model of the skull, a multinational team has rebuilt the skeleton’s face using data drawn from both modern humans and chimpanzees

WHO WERE THE FLORES HOBBITS? 

Standing a little over 3ft (0.9 metres) tall, the inhabitants of Liang Bua cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores are known from just a few fragmented remains.

The first remains were found in 2003 and since then partial skeletons of nine individuals, including one complete skull have been unearthed.

Researchers believe the species were descendants of prehistoric humans, who became isolated on the island around one million years ago.

There are various theories for how they got there.

Some believe they may have walked across a landbridge from the mainland Asia and as sea levels rose they became cut off. Others suggest they were swept to the island following a tsunami. 

Once cut off, these hominins then had to survive on what food they could find, they evolved a small stature.

He said: ‘Roughly speaking, they probably had a less protruding nose than modern men, the mouth region was a little more projected than ours, and the brain volume was significantly smaller.’

They were also much shorter.

Mr Moraes said: ‘When the skull was presented to the public in 2004, the Lord of the Rings movie was a great success.

‘Due to the height of Homo floresiensis being estimated at 1.06 meters, the “Hobbit” nickname matched perfectly.’

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to guide how thick the tissue should be in a given place.

But reconstructing the face of an extinct human species meant a new approach was required.

Cicero said: ‘In this work, we did not use this approach, as such markers are based on human data and not on individuals belonging to the Homo floresiensis group.

‘So what we did was: we took two CT scans, one from a human, the other from a chimpanzee.

‘Then we deformed both to adapt them to the structure of the skull of Homo floresiensis, and interpolated the data to get an idea of what his face could look like.’

It’s the first time that the face of the ‘Hobbit’ has been rebuilt using data from both humans and chimpanzees.

A previous reconstruction from 2015 used only the latter.

The result is a face that’s more human in its aspect.

It's the first time that the face of the 'Hobbit' has been rebuilt using data from both humans and chimpanzees

It’s the first time that the face of the ‘Hobbit’ has been rebuilt using data from both humans and chimpanzees

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to guide how thick the tissue should be in a given place

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to guide how thick the tissue should be in a given place

Mr Moraes said: ‘It was more work, however, we were also greatly pleased to proceed with this challenging work.

‘The result was quite satisfactory, since it revealed a face endowed with elements that remind us of both modern men and our evolutionary ancestors.’

Upon discovery, Homo floresiensis was thought to be under 20,000 years old, however the skeleton is now believed to be 60,000 years old.

Cicero and his colleagues, Italian archaeologists Luca and Alessandro Bezzi, will publish their study in the 3D computer graphics journal OrtogOnLineMag.

Upon discovery, Homo floresiensis was thought to be under 20,000 years old, however the skeleton is now believed to be 60,000 years old

Upon discovery, Homo floresiensis was thought to be under 20,000 years old, however the skeleton is now believed to be 60,000 years old

HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN THE HOBBITS EVOLVED?

Researchers have finally discovered that the tiny island dwellers evolved from one the earliest species of human more than 1.75 million years ago. 

Where previous research had focused mostly on the skull and lower jaw, this study used 133 data points ranging across the skull, jaws, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders.

The researchers found that many parts of the body indicated that Homo floresiensis was more primitive than previously thought.

The findings casts doubt on the widely held assumption that the islanders evolved from Homo erectus, a more modern species of human. Dr Debbie Argue, from the Australian National University, talked through these body parts with MailOnline.

Arms and legs: ‘It’s got relatively short legs that make the arms appear long,’ she said.

‘Not as long as, say, a chimpanzee, but way outside the range of modern humans.’ 

Feet: ‘It’s got long feet compared to the length of the legs,’ Dr Argue said.

‘Even though they were such short, one-metre tall beings. 

‘Again, this is way outside the range we see in modern humans.’

Shoulders: ‘Its shoulders are shrugged and face forward,’ she said.

Skull: Dr Argue said: ‘The skull is low, widest around the level of the ears; and it has a sloping forehead.

‘It has a mound of bone in the eyebrow area that extends around the outside of the eye area.

‘It has no chin. Instead the jaw slopes backwards.’ 

Pelvis:  ‘The pelvis is like that of Australopithecus afarensis,’ she said. A. afarensis is an human-like ape that lived 3.9 million years ago. 

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