Ah yes
Homo Floresiensis or the "hobbits" discovered in Indonesia.
Sorry Tom but you might have mis-heard... so far Neanderthalenis can be dated back farther in the skeletal record of finds - but the skeletal morphology of Floresiensis may indicate a much earlier origin for the "hobbit"... and interesting the same skeletal morphology suggests a stong possibility to a very ancient break from the from the Homo Erectus branch (perhaps as far back as 1.6 MYA, but more likely more recent; which could mean that Floresiensis could have been the longest lived of the Modern Hominids.
It does raise some interesting philosphical arguements as well, which where covered nicely in the National Geographic program dealing with the rise of Homo Sapien - "The Ultimate Survivors" or something to that effect.
What was the interaction between the different branches of Homo like? What did they think of each other? Are the deep and old myths about "other folk" (faries and such) a product of our ancient meeting with other "humans"?
From an evolutionary perspective it has shown that history of our species is more complex and varied than had been traditionally thought - a change in thinking reverberating through the academic community as well... heck my Evolutionary Biology textbook had to be changed half way through last year - and now chapters are rendered obsolete by this discovery and others. However it has "opened the field" greatly, as experts now debate and re-examine finds.
For those interested Scientic American covered the Homo Floresiensis back in the Feb'05 issue (might help tracking info down).
Editted to add link to article:
http://www.sciamdigital.com/browse.c...000&sc=I100322
You can download it for a fee... or if your a student you could have access through your library's electronic journals and resources (I checked and I actually do...) - or you can track down a hardcopy at a library if your that interested...
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