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A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia

Nature volume 431, pages 1055–1061 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Currently, it is widely accepted that only one hominin genus, Homo, was present in Pleistocene Asia, represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Both species are characterized by greater brain size, increased body height and smaller teeth relative to Pliocene Australopithecus in Africa. Here we report the discovery, from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia, of an adult hominin with stature and endocranial volume approximating 1 m and 380 cm3, respectively—equal to the smallest-known australopithecines. The combination of primitive and derived features assigns this hominin to a new species, Homo floresiensis. The most likely explanation for its existence on Flores is long-term isolation, with subsequent endemic dwarfing, of an ancestral H. erectus population. Importantly, H. floresiensis shows that the genus Homo is morphologically more varied and flexible in its adaptive responses than previously thought.

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Figure 1: The LB1 cranium and mandible in lateral and three-quarter views, and cranium in frontal, posterior, superior and inferior views.
Figure 2: Rendered three-dimensional and individual midsagittal CT section views of the LB1 cranium and mandible.
Figure 3: Relationship between endocranial volume and femur length in LB1, A. afarensis, A. africanus, early Homo sp., H. erectus and modern H. sapiens.
Figure 4: Right lateral and occlusal views of the LB1 mandible, sagittal profile of the symphysis, occlusal view of the mandibular dentition and occlusal views of the mandibular premolars.
Figure 5: Mean buccolingual tooth crown breadths for mandibular teeth in A. afarensis (filled circles), A. africanus (open circles), early Homo sp. (open squares), modern H. sapiens (filled squares), LB1 (filled stars) and LB2 (open stars).
Figure 6: Comparison of the left innominate from LB1 with a modern adult female H. sapiens.
Figure 7: Anterior and posterior views of the LB1 right femur and tibia, with cross-sections of the femur neck and midshaft, and tibia midshaft.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank F. Spoor and L. Aiello for data and discussion. Comments by F. Spoor and D. Lieberman greatly improved aspects of the original manuscript. Conversation with S. Collier, C. Groves, T. White and P. Grave helped clarify some issues. CT scans were produced by CT-Scan KSU, Medical Diagnostic Nusantara, Jakarta. S. Wasisto completed complex section drawings and assisted with the excavation of Sector VII. The 2003 excavations at Liang Bua, undertaken under Indonesian Centre for Archaeology Permit Number 1178/SB/PUS/BD/24.VI/2003, were funded by a Discovery Grant to M.J.M. from the Australian Research Council. UNE Faculty of Arts, and M. Macklin, helped fund the manufacture of stereolithographic models of LB1.Authors contributions P.B. reconstructed the LB1 cranium and was responsible for researching and writing this article, with M.J.M. T.S. directed many aspects of the Liang Bua excavations, including the recovery of the hominin skeleton. M.J.M. and R.P.S. are Principal Investigators and Institutional Counterparts in the ARC project, as well as Co-Directors of the Liang Bua excavations. E.W.S. and Jatmiko assisted T.S., and had prime responsibility for the work in Sector VII. R.A.D. did all of the initial faunal identifications at Liang Bua, including hominin material, and helped clean and conserve it.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeology & Palaeoanthropology, School of Human & Environmental Studies, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia

    P. Brown & M. J. Morwood

  2. Indonesian Centre for Archaeology, Jl. Raya Condet Pejaten No. 4, Jakarta, 12001, Indonesia

    T. Sutikna, R. P. Soejono,  Jatmiko, E. Wayhu Saptomo & Rokus Awe Due

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Correspondence to P. Brown.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Comparative cranial and mandibular dimensions and indices for LB1, A. africanus, early Homo, Homo erectus, and a robust modern H. sapiens sample. (DOC 103 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Buccolingual crown dimensions for the maxillary and mandibular teeth of LB1, and male and female modern H. sapiens (mm). (DOC 42 kb)

Supplementary Figure 1

First and second principal component scores of linear measurements of the cranial vault in LB1, Indonesian, African and European H. erectus, H. habilis and Australopithecus africanus. (JPG 42 kb)

Supplementary Figure 2

Distal and occlusal views of the isolated LB2 mandibular left P3. Scale bar, 1 cm. (JPG 59 kb)

Supplementary Text File

Captions for supplementary figures and tables, discussion and description of methods used. (DOC 49 kb)

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Brown, P., Sutikna, T., Morwood, M. et al. A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431, 1055–1061 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02999

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