By IANS
Sydney : When they were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004, the small hobbit-like fossils were considered a hitherto unknown primitive species.
But scientists from the University of Western Australia now suggest that they were, after all, human.
Under a new study that focussed on their bone structure rather than genetics, the scientists have concluded that the small stature and distinctive features of the hobbit-like people were possibly due to severe iodine deficiency.
“Our research suggests these fossils are not a new species but rather the remains of human hunter-gatherers that suffered from this condition,” said Peter Obendorf.
“Dwarf cretinism can cause features very similar to those of the Flores hobbits.
“This extreme form of cretinism is the result of severe iodine deficiency in pregnancy and other environmental factors like eating foods that release cyanide into the body,” said Obendorf.
Obendorf and co-author Ben Kefford have published the findings of their study in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences.
Cretinism has been largely wiped out from the Western world through iodine addition to food, but still occurs in some developing countries.
Explaining the early error in categorising the fossils as humans, Obendorf said: “Almost all the people who have looked at these fossils have been coming from an evolutionary perspective… Our idea is that this was an environmentally caused problem.”
Obendorf said the theory corresponded with the Flores islanders’ oral tradition, which includes stories of “little people” whose features were remarkably similar to those of dwarf cretins.
“Some of the traditional stories of the local people may be an ancient memory of an otherwise forgotten time, when cretins were a common part of the human population on Flores,” he said.