# Skeleton of "dwarf cavewoman" found **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692 "2004-10-28T17:23:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/1 "2004-10-28T17:23:28Z")
[Linkydink.](http://www.news4jax.com/news/3861683/detail.html) This story sounds odd to me, for several reasons. One is that the headline lists that the “skeleton of a dwarf cavewoman” was found, but the story says that a “race” of dwarfs were found. Secondly, it states that these people used stone tools and organized hunts. How could they know this from one skeleton? Couldn’t it just as easily been a regular dwarf in an average-height society? At any rate, the article is short and vague, and I don’t find it very believeable at this point. Has anyone else seen anything that backs this up as fact and not a hoax? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/2 "2004-10-28T17:28:07Z")
Other stories on the find have indicated that more than one skeleton has been found. I heard about others on an NPR story last night. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/3 "2004-10-28T17:32:22Z")
It’s not a hoax. Here’s a reference to the[Nature article](http://translate.google.com/translate?pev=/language_tools&u=http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041025/full/4311029a.html), and here is a[thread in GD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283343) about it. But you’re right about “dwarf” being techincally incorrect and “race” also being technically incorrect-- it’s a distinct species, _Homo floresiensis_. The scientists found a lot more than one skeleton, and they can infer organized huniting from the tools and food bones-- it’s unlikely that a single individual could kill the elephants they seem to have hunted (even if the elephants also were a pygmy species). ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/4 "2004-10-28T17:34:09Z")
The thread “discussing” the find is in MPSIMS: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283205](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283205) The new species _Homo floresiensis_ was described in [Nature](http://www.nature.com), one of the premier scientific journals in the world. They have set up a special page for Flores man here: [http://www.nature.com/news/specials/flores/index.html](http://www.nature.com/news/specials/flores/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/5 "2004-10-28T17:35:47Z")
I’m glad it’s not April 1st. I can allow myself to be fascinated by this story. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/6 "2004-10-28T17:39:25Z")
Thanks for the links - the extra info helped clarify it a lot. I hate it when articles on this kind of thing get watered down, like in the link I found. Makes it sound like it could have come out of _Weekly World News._ ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/7 "2004-10-28T17:40:55Z")
The cryptozoologists are gonna have a field day with this one! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeleton-of-dwarf-cavewoman-found/271692/8 "2004-10-28T17:51:39Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > I hate it when articles on this kind of thing get watered down, like in the link I found. Makes it sound like it could have come out of _Weekly World News._ I, too, had to check several sources before I believed it. I had heard of Erectus fossils found on Flores before, but this new stuff came out of the blue. > [@Loopydude](#): > > ``` > The cryptozoologists are gonna have a field day with this one! > > ``` They sure are!! There is a SE Asian version of the “yeti” called [orang pendik](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Pendek) that fits the bill nicely.