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News & Views item - February 2012 |
Additional Data Support H. Floresiensis Not Cretinous H. Sapiens.
(February 26, 2012)
A paper in the February issue of the Journal of Human Evolution (J. Hum. Evol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.011 (2012)) by Peter Brown in the Department of Paleoanthropology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW analyses additional data supporting the argument that the "hobbit" of the island of Flores was not a cretinous human (Homo sapiens).
According to Professor Brown, he was unable to find evidence of cretinism in critical examinations of the fossils of two specimens and suggests perhaps because the: "research team responsible for the diagnosis of ME cretinism had not examined the original H. floresiensis skeletal materials... their research confused taphonomic damage with evidence of disease..."
Professor Brown's abstract of his paper is below:
Abstract
Excavations in the late Pleistocene deposits at Liang Bua cave, Flores, have
uncovered the skeletal remains of several small-bodied and small-brained
hominins in
association with stone artefacts and the bones of Stegodon. Due to
their combination of plesiomorphic, unique and derived traits, they were
ascribed to a new species, Homo floresiensis, which, along with
Stegodon, appears to have become extinct ~17 ka (thousand years ago).
However, recently it has been argued that several characteristics of H.
floresiensis were consistent with dwarfism and evidence of delayed
development in modern human (Homo sapiens) myxoedematous endemic (ME)
cretins. This research compares the skeletal and dental morphology in H.
floresiensis with the clinical and osteological indicators of cretinism,
and the traits that have been argued to be associated with ME cretinism in LB1
and LB6. Contrary to published claims, morphological and statistical comparisons
did not identify the distinctive skeletal and dental indicators of cretinism in
LB1 or LB6 H. floresiensis. Brain mass, skeletal proportions,
epiphyseal union, orofacial morphology, dental development, size of the
pituitary fossa and development of the paranasal sinuses, vault bone thickness
and dimensions of the hands and feet all distinguish H. floresiensis
from modern humans with ME cretinism. The research team responsible for the
diagnosis of ME cretinism had not examined the original H. floresiensis
skeletal materials, and perhaps, as a result, their research confused taphonomic
damage with evidence of disease, and thus contained critical errors of fact and
interpretation. Behavioural scenarios attempting to explain the presence of
cretinous H. sapiens in the Liang Bua Pleistocene deposits, but not
unaffected H. sapiens, are both unnecessary and not supported by the
available archaeological and geochronological evidence from Flores.