Flores Man Hobbit
Homo floresiensis
🧙♂
Chordata
Mammalia
Primates
Simiiformes
Hominidae
Homo
Homo floresiensis
The genus name Homo is Latin “human / man.” The species name floresiensis comes from “Flores,” the island where the fossils were found, with the Latin suffix -ensis meaning “from / belonging to.” So Homo floresiensis = “the human from Flores.”
The island dwarf of Flores — Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the “Hobbit,” was a small-bodied human species that survived astonishingly late into the Pleistocene, sharing the planet with modern humans.
Description
Homo floresiensis is an extinct hominin species discovered in 2003 in Liang Bua Cave, on the Indonesian island of Flores. Standing just over a meter tall and weighing around 25 kilograms, it possessed a remarkably small brain (about 426 cm³) but displayed advanced tool-making abilities and hunting behaviors.
Despite its small stature, its stone technology closely resembles that of Homo erectus, suggesting cultural inheritance or convergent innovation. Its anatomy shows a curious mosaic: a skull and teeth resembling early Homo, arms and shoulders recalling Australopithecus, and feet more primitive than either.
These features indicate that H. floresiensis may have evolved from an early dispersal of Homo erectus or even an earlier ancestor that reached Flores and underwent island dwarfism—a well-known evolutionary process where isolation on resource-limited islands favors small body size.
The species persisted until roughly 50,000 years ago, overlapping with early Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia. That makes it one of the last known archaic humans.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
25
0.9
1
1.1
kg
m
m
m
Omnivore / opportunistic forager (likely ate small animals, plants, possibly scavenged)
Hunt History
Fossil evidence shows that the “Hobbits” hunted small animals such as giant rats, birds, and pygmy Stegodon (a dwarf elephant). Their stone tools and butchery marks confirm sophisticated behavior despite their tiny brains.
Three key archeological anchors:
Liang Bua Cave, Flores — ~95,000 to 50,000 years ago: Main site where remains of at least nine individuals were found, including the nearly complete skeleton LB1.
So’a Basin, Flores — ~1 million years ago: Older stone tools, likely from Homo floresiensis ancestors, indicate long-term occupation of the island.
Wolo Sege site, Flores — ~700,000 years ago: Additional evidence of stone tool manufacture, showing continuity of hominin presence through multiple glacial cycles.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Globally Extinct
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
50000
BP
Late Early Pleistocene — Late Pleistocene ( ~1 million years to ~50,000 years ago)
Island of Flores, Indonesia
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Fat %
Est. Renderable Fat
kg
Targeted Organs
Adipose Depots
Preferred Cuts
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)