A brand new paper published by Maciej Henneberg, Robert B. Eckhardtb, Sakdapong Chavanaves and Kenneth J. Hsü (Evolved developmental homeostasis disturbed in LB1 from Flores, Indonesia, denotes Down syndrome and not diagnostic traits of the invalid species Homo floresiensis, PNAS 2014 ; published ahead of print August 4, 2014, doi:10.1073/pnas.1407382111 ) states that the Flores Island hominin, dating back some 15,000 years, was actually a very deformed person who very likely suffered from Down syndrome.
This is a Link to the paper so that you can read it.
I am sure that this will cause some debate and plenty of counter-arguments. If it turns out to be true, it is quite surprising, and sort of disappointing (at least for me); I was positive that it was actually a dwarf!
But let's not despair, there are still the Palau island pygmies that have to be explained... were they also afflicted with Down syndrome?
Above is the skull of the Flores hobbit and a modern human one.
We will have to wait and see what the final conclusions are.
NEW NOV. 2015, Another paper now says they were ancient humans evolved from H. erectus. Read my post here
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall ©
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