The Flores Island hominin, known as the hobbit (Homo floresiensis) was originally believed to have mastered fire, but new research published in Science on July 3, 2026 (E. Grace Veatch et al., Taphonomic analysis at Liang Bua reveals the behavioral and technological capabilities of Homo floresiensis. Sci. Adv. 12, eaeb7219(2026). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aeb7219) suggest that they were much more primitive.
The paper's abstract indicates that "Since its discovery, Homo floresiensis—an extinct, short-statured, and small-brained hominin species from Flores, Indonesia—has often been ascribed unexpectedly advanced behaviors, such as hunting large game and using fire. Here, we report... that Komodo dragons likely had primary access to these remains leaving behind only low-utility elements for H. floresiensis to scavenge. Moreover, no signs of intentional use of fire are present in the stratigraphic units associated with H. floresiensis. Together, these results suggest that H. floresiensis was not as behaviorally advanced as originally suggested and provides critical insights into the behavioral repertoire of H. floresiensis, raising important questions about its ancestry."
The authors point out that the traces of fire usage in the sites where hobbits were found are more recent, and ocurred after these hominins became extinct. Fire was made by modern humans:
"The controlled use of fire and coordinated hunting of large game are considered critical milestones in hominin evolution ... The fact that H. floresiensis was originally described as having these behavioral adaptations continues to be a source of intense debate. However, with no evidence of in situ burning in the Stegodon or murine assemblage sampled thus far from H. floresiensis–bearing sediments at Liang Bua, it is reasonable to conclude that past fire use at the site was the sole result of H. sapiens behavior that occurred from ~46 ka until present day, well after H. floresiensis and Stegodon disappeared from the area."
This isn't surprising, the paper notes that although fire has been used for about 1 million years (My), it was only used widely over the past 400,000 years. Since the H. floresiensis reached Flores earlier than 1 My ago, they probably never mastered the art of fire making.
The researchers report that they were not hunters either, only scavengers. Since they couldn't cook meat, and ate it raw, they did not benefit from a better use of animal protein derived from cooking. The authors attribute this limited "behavioral repertoire as ... possibly due to an ancestry in which large game hunting and controlled use of fire did not evolve." This suggests that they evolved from a primitive, or more archaic branch of hominins and not from Homo erectus.
Comments
As mentioned in a previous post (about Stringer's remarks about the Out of Africa origin of humans), the origin of the hobbits is a mystery. It could be possible that they originated from an early lineage of hominins like those that led to Dmanisi - Homo georgicus, predating the Homo erectus line. They could even be the original basal line that originated in Eurasia, and in Europe, led to the hobbits proposed by Ludovic Slimak as living in France over 400 ky ago (see my previous post about Slimak).
Ancient hominins like these would have developed primitive stone technologies (Stringer calls them "prehuman"), and they may have not learned to use fire. They were probably the first hominins (were they even members of the homo clade?) who left Africa (or probably evene originated in Western Eurasia). They could be the ancestors of the Dmanisi people in the Caucasus (H. georgicus), and the erectines, and migrated into Africa to originate the hominins there.
In my next post we will look into the hominins that are said to have preceded Homo erectus inside Africa, and discuss Homo habilis, H. ergaster, H. rudolfensis.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall ©
