Frodo, is that you? Face of a ‘real-life HOBBIT’ who lived in Indonesia 60,000 years ago is revealed

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Frodo, is that you? Face of a ‘real HOBBIT’ who lived in Indonesia 60,000 years ago is revealed for the first time

  • Homo floresiensis is an extinct species of human nicknamed ‘Hobbit’
  • Using a skull, researchers have reconstructed the species’ face for the first time

By Michael Havis For Mailonline

Updated:

When you think of Hobbits, you might think of a vision of Bilbo or Frodo Baggins.

But Hobbits were once very real, in the form of an ancient species called Homo floresiensis.

Homo floresiensis was discovered in 2003, when its skeleton was found in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia.

Now equipped with a digital model of the skull, a multinational team has rebuilt the skeleton’s face using data from both modern humans and chimpanzees.

Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who co-authored the new study, described some of the differences between the species and humans today.

Homo floresiensis – an extinct human species nicknamed ‘Hobbit’ – was discovered in 2003, when his skeleton was found in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to determine how thick the tissue should be in a particular place

But reconstructing the face of an extinct human species required a new approach

Equipped with a digital model of the skull, a multinational team rebuilt the skeleton’s face using data from both modern humans and chimpanzees

WHO WERE THE FLORES HOBBITS?

The inhabitants of Liang Bua Cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores, which stands just over 0.9 meters tall, are known from only a few fragmented remains.

The first remains were found in 2003 and since then partial skeletons of nine individuals have been unearthed, including a complete skull.

Researchers believe the species descended from prehistoric humans, who became isolated on the island about a million years ago.

There are several theories about how they got there.

Some believe they walked across a land bridge from mainland Asia, and as sea levels rose, they were cut off. Others suggest they were swept onto the island after a tsunami.

Once cut off, these hominins had to survive on whatever food they could find, developing a short stature.

He said: ‘Grossly speaking, they probably had a less protruding nose than modern men, the mouth region was slightly more projected than ours and the brain volume was considerably smaller.’

They were also much shorter.

Mr Moraes said: ‘When the skull was presented to the public in 2004, the Lord of the Rings film was a huge success.

“Since the height of Homo floresiensis is estimated to be 1.06 meters, the nickname ‘Hobbit’ was a perfect fit.”

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to determine how thick the tissue should be in a particular place.

But reconstructing the face of an extinct human species required a new approach.

Cicero said: ‘In this work we did not use this approach, because such markers are based on human data and not on individuals belonging to the Homo floresiensis group.

‘So what we did was we took two CT scans, one of a human, the other of a chimpanzee.

“We then deformed both to match the structure of Homo floresiensis’s skull, and interpolated the data to get an idea of ​​what its face might look like.”

It’s the first time the ‘Hobbit’ face has been rebuilt using data from both humans and chimpanzees.

An earlier 2015 reconstruction used only the latter.

The result is a face that is more human in its aspect.

It's the first time the 'Hobbit' face has been rebuilt using data from both humans and chimpanzees

It’s the first time the ‘Hobbit’ face has been rebuilt using data from both humans and chimpanzees

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to determine how thick the tissue should be in a particular place

When rebuilding a human face from a skull, scientists typically use data from living people to determine how thick the tissue should be in a particular place

Mr Moraes said: ‘It was more work, but we were also very happy to continue with this challenging work.

“The result was quite satisfying, revealing a face with elements that remind us of both modern humans and our evolutionary ancestors.”

When discovered, Homo floresiensis was thought to be less than 20,000 years old, but the skeleton is now believed to be 60,000 years old.

Cicero and his colleagues, Italian archaeologists Luca and Alessandro Bezzi, will publish their study in the 3D computer graphics magazine OrtogOnLineMag.

When discovered, Homo floresiensis was thought to be less than 20,000 years old, but the skeleton is now believed to be 60,000 years old

When discovered, Homo floresiensis was thought to be less than 20,000 years old, but the skeleton is now believed to be 60,000 years old

HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN THE HOBBITS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED?

Researchers have finally discovered that the small islanders evolved from one of the earliest human species more than 1.75 million years ago.

While previous research had focused primarily on the skull and lower jaw, this study used 133 data points spanning the skull, jaws, teeth, arms, legs, and shoulders.

The researchers found that many parts of the body indicated that Homo floresiensis was more primitive than previously thought.

The findings cast doubt on the widely held belief that the islanders evolved from Homo erectus, a more modern human species. Dr. Debbie Argue, from the Australian National University, discussed these body parts with MailOnline.

Arms and legs: “It has relatively short legs that make the arms look long,” she said.

“Not as long as, say, a chimpanzee, but far beyond the reach of modern humans.”

Feet: “It has long feet compared to the length of its legs,” Dr. Argue said.

‘Even though they were such small creatures of a meter high.

“Again, this is well beyond the range we see in modern humans.”

shoulders: “His shoulders are shrugged and forward,” she said.

Skull: Dr. Argue said: ‘The skull is low, broadest at the level of the ears; and has a slanted forehead.

“It has a bunch of bone in the brow area that extends around the outside of the eye area.

‘It has no chin. Instead, the jaw slopes backward.’

Beaks: “The pelvis is like that of Australopithecus afarensis,” she said. A. afarensis is a humanoid ape that lived 3.9 million years ago.

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