Archaic human 'hobbits' were even shorter than we thought, 700,000-year-old teeth and bone reveal

Early hominins known colloquially as “hobbits” may have been shorter than scientists thought, a new analysis of teeth and bones has revealed.

The 700,000-year-old fossilized remains belonged to Homo floresiensis, an extinct species of exceedingly small humans that once inhabited Flores, an island south of mainland Indonesia, according to a study published Tuesday (Aug. 6) in the journal Nature Communications.

The new research may shed light on when H. floresiensis first evolved its diminutive height.

“Acquiring a large body and large brain and becoming clever is not necessarily our destiny,” lead author Yosuke Kaifu, a professor at the University Museum at the University of Tokyo, told Live Science in an email. “Depending on the natural environment, there were diverse ways of evolution not only for animals in general but also for humans.”