A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Strange Story of the "Hobbits" of Flores, Indonesia, Updated Paperback Edition - Softcover

Morwood, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1598744143 ISBN 13: 9781598744149

Publisher: Routledge, 2009

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

"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

"Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries." -Library Journal

About the Author:

Dr. Mike Morwood is a professor of anthropology at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. In addition to his work in Indonesia, he is an expert in Australian Aboriginal rock art and the author of Visions from the Past: The Archaeology of Australian Aboriginal Art.Penny van Oosterzee has twice won Australia's prestigious Eureka Science Book Prize, and is the author of Dragon Bones: The Story of Peking Man and Where Worlds Collide: The Wallace Line.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1598744143
• ISBN 13: 9781598744149
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288