Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate

Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate 164

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @12:45AM from the little-men dept.

Several readers wrote in with news of the debate around the identity of an ancient woman whose diminutive skeleton was found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004. Fox News reports that Australian scientists have discovered a subterranean chamber that may contain DNA proof that will settle the question of whether "the Hobbit," as the specimen is called, actually is a representative of a new branch of the human family, or not. The find's discoverers named the putative new race Homo floresiensis. Others in the anthropological field question this identification, arguing that the meter-tall Hobbit was a modern human who had something wrong with her. In a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with one of the original discovery team as co-author, researchers say they have compared the Hobbit's skull to those of modern humans with various ailments such as microcephaly, and that the Hobbit is different.

Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate

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Trolls too... (Score:5, Funny)

by racecarj ( 703239 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @12:51AM (#17809912)

Another one of Tolkien's races has been discovered: Trolls, it seems, are native to the slashdot community.

Great but... (Score:4, Funny)

by Frogbert ( 589961 ) writes: <{frogbert} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @12:53AM (#17809926)

Now they will have to find what came between Homo Sapian and Homo Floresiensis. /ducks for cover.

hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

by macadamia_harold ( 947445 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @12:59AM (#17809976) Homepage

Others in the anthropological field question this identification, arguing that the meter-tall Hobbit was a modern human who had something wrong with her.

Maybe she just hobbitually ate a poor diet.

Re:Trolls too... (Score:5, Funny)

by andy314159pi ( 787550 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @01:04AM (#17810024) Journal

Hobbits suffer from microcephaly but Trolls suffer from microphallus, which is quite different.

And who is going to direct this research? (Score:5, Funny)

by iminplaya ( 723125 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @01:23AM (#17810136) Journal

Paul Verhoeven

Kevin Smith

George Lucas

Allan Parker

Steven Spielberg

Ridley Scott

Beorn(who?)

or CowboyNeal?

Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @01:32AM (#17810200)

I'm pretty shire that's the case.

Re:Get with the answers already! (Score:3, Funny)

by $RANDOMLUSER ( 804576 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @02:07AM (#17810394)

I'm sorry, what was the question?

Re:Me being cynical (Score:4, Funny)

by LordLucless ( 582312 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @02:28AM (#17810488)

Come on, how boring is that -- that the meter-tall body was just an abnormal human? Wouldn't it be so much *cooler* if there were a whole race of these!

Yeah, unfortunately science is decided based on empirical observation, not whose theory is cooler.

Re:Hobbit test (Score:2, Funny)

by Torvaun ( 1040898 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @02:37AM (#17810532)

2. Was she wearing a ring?
Of course not. If she was, they wouldn't have found her.

Biblical Confirmation (Score:3, Funny)

by Camel Pilot ( 78781 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @02:39AM (#17810548) Homepage Journal

There is line in the bible that says something like "There were midgets in the earth in those days" I am sure of it.

Re:Me being cynical (Score:5, Funny)

by hobbesmaster ( 592205 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @02:50AM (#17810618)

Tell that to string physicists.

Re:Get with the answers already! (Score:2, Funny)

by and ladders ( 986311 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @03:22AM (#17810796)

Please stop posting. You are clouding a good, emotional debate with facts. Mind you, this is /. and we have no interest in facts, just emotional responses to TFA.

Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

by Bamafan77 ( 565893 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @03:37AM (#17810868)

I can't confirm it, but it certainly rings true.

Re: Trolls too... (Score:5, Funny)

by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @04:06AM (#17810998)

> Although My humongous 4x4 pickup truck is more or less out of neccesity, I don't think I would trade it for anything else (even if i didn't have a need for it).

Bah, real men drive six-wheeled armored cars.

With a great big gun sticking out the front...

Re:hmmm (Score:3, Funny)

by Gabrill ( 556503 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @07:26AM (#17811868)

So I guess you wouldn't swear on a Bilbo?

Re:I for one... (Score:4, Funny)

by Gabrill ( 556503 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @07:30AM (#17811882)

dude . . . UNDERLORDS!

"Subterranean chamber" (Score:4, Funny)

by The Fun Guy ( 21791 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @09:01AM (#17812354) Homepage Journal

Ok, they knew as soon as they saw this subterranean chamber that it was a hobbit hole, because it wasn't a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat.

QED.

Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

by WeeLad ( 588414 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @10:17AM (#17813054) Journal

In any case, this debate will probably drag-on forever

Mod Parent Up (Score:5, Funny)

by Digitus1337 ( 671442 ) writes: <lk_digitus AT hotmail DOT com> on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @10:53AM (#17813482) Homepage

Either way, I don't think we've heard the Ent of this discussion.

Re:Modern human who had something wrong with her (Score:3, Funny)

by number6x ( 626555 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @12:22PM (#17814790)

Tom Cruise's evil twin? Or is it the other way around?

Re:Mod Parent Up (Score:2, Funny)

by robophobe ( 892079 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @02:08PM (#17816598) Journal

The nerve! You people are so Aragont!

Re:Mod Parent Up (Score:3, Funny)

by nEoN nOoDlE ( 27594 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:37PM (#17820808)

Stop with the puns before I mordor someone!

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Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate 164

Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate More Login

Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate

Trolls too... (Score:5, Funny)

Great but... (Score:4, Funny)

hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Trolls too... (Score:5, Funny)

And who is going to direct this research? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Get with the answers already! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Me being cynical (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Hobbit test (Score:2, Funny)

Biblical Confirmation (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Me being cynical (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Get with the answers already! (Score:2, Funny)

Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

Re: Trolls too... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:hmmm (Score:3, Funny)

Re:I for one... (Score:4, Funny)

"Subterranean chamber" (Score:4, Funny)

Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

Mod Parent Up (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Modern human who had something wrong with her (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Mod Parent Up (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Mod Parent Up (Score:3, Funny)

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