A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Strange Story of the Hobbits of Flores, Indonesia, Updated Paperback Edition [Paperback]

In the most revolutionary archaeological find of the new century, an international team of archaeologists led by Mike Morwood discovered a new, diminutive species of human on the remote Indonesian island of Flores. Nicknamed the “Hobbit,” this was no creation of Tolkien's fantasy. The three foot tall skeleton with a brain the size of a chimpanzee’s was a tool-using, fire-making, cooperatively hunting person who inhabited Flores alongside modern humans as recently as 13,000 years ago. This book is Morwood’s description of this monumental discovery and the intense study that has been undertaken to validate his view of its relationship to our species. He chronicles the bitter debates over Homo Floresiensis, the objections (some spiteful) of colleagues, the theft and damage of some of the specimens, and the endless battle against government and academic bureaucracies that hindered his research. This updated paperback edition contains an epilogue that reports on the most recent debates, findings, and analyses of this amazing discovery.

In October 2004, a team of Australian and Indonesian anthropologists led by Mike Morwood and Raden Pandji Soejono stunned the world with their announcement of the discovery of the first example of a new species of human, Homo floresiensis, which they nicknamed the Hobbit. This was no creation of Tolkien's fantasy, however, but a tool-using, fire-making, cooperatively hunting person.

“When I first learned of this discovery, I thought it the most astonishing in any field on science within the last decade” —Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, in Science magazine

One of the very most astonishing discoveries that I’ve seen in my life. —Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and The Eternal Frontier

This well-written, entertaining book is both scholarly and accessible to the general public. —American Scientist