Chapter 16, Problem 38A

Summary Introduction

To hypothesize:

The coexistence of H. floresiensis with modern humans.

Introduction:

Australopithecines are the hominins that lived in in east- central and southern part of Africa between 4.2 and 1 mya and had apelike brains and jaws. While the African environment became cooler between 3 and 2.5 mya and the forests decreased in size, the genus Homo started to appear. Many scientists believe that they evolved from an ancestor of australopithecines.

Answer to Problem 38A

H. floresiensis and H. sapiens are quite different species. If they coexisted, modern man would have used them because they would consider themselves to be superior to H. floresiensis.

Explanation of Solution

Homo species had bigger brains, lighter skeletons, flatter faces, and smaller teeth than their australopithecine ancestors. The first member of the genus Homo is Homo habilis . Other Homo species might have coexisted with H. habilis such as Homorudolfensis. Later other Homo species like Homoergaster emerged . These were the first ones to migrate to Asia and Europe. The Eurasian forms of Homoergaster are called Homo erectus .

Homo erectus went extinct about 400,000 years ago. A curious set of fossils were discovered in 2004 on the Indonesian island of Flores that suggest that descendants of Homo erectus or some other hominin species remained on Earth until 12,000 years ago. These fossils which are 18,000 years old represent a species called H. floresiensis, nicknamed “The Hobbit”. They had brain and body proportions like all the australopithecines but were only 1m tall when full grown.

Although modern humans ( H. sapiens) and H. floresiensis are quite different in their skull size and body structure, they could have coexisted. Since H. floresiensisbecame extinct before H. sapiens arrived, it is difficult to hypothesize their coexistence. However if they coexisted they would have been used by modern humans due to their small brain size and body structure.