# Homo floresiensis **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101 "2019-03-13T23:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/1 "2019-03-13T23:26:23Z")
I’m fascinated by the “hobbit” humans. I read as much as I can find. But one thing no one seemed to address is how they got to the island. Have I just overlooked it? Are there any working theories? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/2 "2019-03-13T23:44:09Z")
Potentially, walked? The sea level [has fluctuated a great deal](https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/coastlines/student_materials/901) over the past couple of million years. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/3 "2019-03-13T23:48:04Z")
During the The Last Glacial Period (LGP), c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago, sea level was about 125 meters (410 feet) lower than today. [Here](https://i.redd.it/z1r9542l87x11.jpg)’s a map of the world at that time - the island of Flores is connected by land to Asia. So they could just walk there. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/4 "2019-03-13T23:52:25Z")
Possibly, of course. Although one report I read calculated that the fluctuations wouldn’t have been enough. It’s interesting I think that they were confined to that island and not the island closer to main land masses. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/5 "2019-03-13T23:56:03Z")
A lot of them, in fact. There is even fairly good support that Homo floresiensis evolved far earlier than Homo erectus, and was contemporaneous with Homo Habilis. The variability of sea level, and possibility of “rafting” are all possibilities for any animal reaching this, or in fact any Island. Even over the more recent habitation of Homo Sapiens might have been accomplished by those means. Certainly modern anthropology considers those as possibilities in the absence of evidence of group migrations. Tris * * * Google is your friend. Sometimes friends lie to you. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/6 "2019-03-14T00:29:53Z")
[Rafting](http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Bucklebury_Ferry) is certainly a possibility, but I think more likely they got a [ride](http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/File:Rowena_Morrill_-_The_Swan-Boat_of_Galadriel.jpg) from the [elves](http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/White_Ship). ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/7 "2019-03-14T00:39:10Z")
Well, no matter which of the migration models you pick; [https://www.nature.com/scitable/content/out-of-africa-versus-the-multiregional-hypothesis-6391](https://www.nature.com/scitable/content/out-of-africa-versus-the-multiregional-hypothesis-6391) It would appear something like , h.erectus, mata menge, h. Floresiensis. Or if you believe this outlier it was a sister to h.habilis, evolving on it’s own from Australopithecus. So they evolved there, from about 1.5 million to 700kya onward. This article outlining the common theory mentions the population evolving from a group marooned on island by rising sea levels > **[Likely ancestor of mystery 'hobbit' found](https://phys.org/news/2016-06-ancestor-mystery-hobbit.html)** > > Half-sized humans who lived 700,000 years ago were almost certainly the ancestors of enigmatic "hobbits" whose fossils were found on the same Indonesian isle in 2013, scientists stunned by their own discovery reported Wednesday. But this one mentions million year old stone tools found there implying possible sea travel abilities. > **[Origins of Indonesian hobbits finally revealed](https://phys.org/news/2017-04-indonesian-hobbits-revealed.html)** > > The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been... Heres the only mention specifically I found of.a theory on how their ancestors got there; Most likely too IMO ttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-years-flores-hobbit-human-evolution-fossil-puzzle-180953108/ Here’s a good summary of unknowns; [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensis](http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensis) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homo-floresiensis/831101/8 "2019-03-14T00:46:11Z")
Thanks for the links.