Island find stirs Hobbit debate

[hunter]

Island find stirs Hobbit debate

By Helen Briggs
Science reporter, BBC News

The discovery on South Pacific islands of ancient bones thought to belong to a tribe of tiny humans has raised new anthropological questions.

Radiocarbon dating suggests the little people lived on the islands of Palau a few thousand years ago.

Scientists believe they were true humans who shrank, perhaps because of a genetic disorder or lack of food.

The find fuels new debate over the "Hobbit", a tiny human that lived on the island of Flores, 2,000km away.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7290090.stm

This reminds me of the Pygmy Mammoths of California's Channel Islands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_exilis