Homo hobbitus update Bones of Contention
Because the female skeleton looked humanoid rather than human and the brain size was small, the researchers concluded she was not a Pygmy—a short but otherwise normal version of Homo sapiens you still find in equatorial Africa and pockets of Southeast Asia—but a member of an entirely new species whom its discoverers named Homo floresiensis. This species, say the scientists, probably branched off from Homo erectus, the commonly accepted ancestor of Homo sapiens.
. . .
Now, however, the presence of small people living within strolling distance of Liang Bua has cast doubt over the separate-species theory, and sparked a bitter split in scientific circles over its validity. Battle lines have been drawn, with each side vigorously trying to discredit the other.
This is a good summary article of where things stand at this point. We admit we're starting to question whether or not this is really a new species or not. The presence of very short-statured people on the island now seems to us to seriously call into question much of the argument. It's harder to get around the brain-size issue, and this reminds us of the old Neanderthal critique -- "It's a furrowed-brow old man with the gout" schtick. Is it possible that they managed to find the one person with microcephaly? Yes, but this seems unlikely, unless due to some founder effect, the condition was more common than usually seen. So, as one researcher quoted in the article says "Show me eight more similar skulls from the site and I'll shut up." At this point, we'll just fall back on that old archaeological canard and say "We need more data."
Archaeological Controversy II Hunters Cleared in Aussie Megafauna Extinctions
Humans and ancient giant marsupials coexisted for at least 15,000 years, according to new findings that re-ignite the debate over how and when Australia's megafauna became extinct.
Archaeologist Judith Field, of the University of Sydney, says the team's findings put to rest one high-profile theory, that humans arrived in Australia and wiped out the megafauna during a relatively brief 1000-year "blitzkrieg."
"In some places people may well have had a role, but in other places they had no role at all," she says.
Probably a bit overly optimistic of a headline. We figure the blitzgrieg model is probably itself overly simplistic and won't hold out much longer as a broad explanatory model. Still, Field and other researchers are making this problem out to be more complex than the either/or-climate/hunting opposition proponents have made it out to be (itself an oversimplification in most cases). Donald Grayson, himself a strong opponent of the blitzkrieg-uber alles model has recently published some data indicating that people may have had some impact on the extinction of at least one species, Ursus spelaeus or cave bear (see this paper section 3). Do a Web search (preferably Google Scholar) on 'Pleistocene overkill' or 'Megafauna extinctions' for background.
[Update] Can't find the original paper that this article is based on (yet) but we located a couple with some background on Field's extinctions work (don't know whether they're freely accessible or not):
Megafaunal extinction in the late Quaternary and the global overkill hypothesis
Archaeology and Australian Megafauna (short summary of the Cuddie Springs site)
[Update II] And we just came across this by chance:
Small species back-up giant marsupial climate change extinction claim
Thinking small in a time when everything was big has helped Queensland researchers to unearth new evidence that climate change, instead of humans, was responsible for wiping out Australian giant marsupials or megafauna 40,000 years ago.
Instead of only excavating 'trophy specimens' such as giant kangaroos and wombats, the researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Queensland Museum performed the first systematic analysis of a site in the fossil rich Darling Downs region of south-eastern Queensland.
Reported in the journal Memoirs of the Queensland Museum tomorrow (Tuesday 31 May) they found smaller species, dependent on a wetter environment, had also disappeared.
By systematically analysing a 10 metre deep section of creek bed, the team uncovered 44 species, ranging from land snails, frogs, lizards and small mammals to giant wombats and kangaroos including many species previously unknown to have occurred in the Darling Downs fossil record.
The results suggest that the extinction of Darling Downs megafauna was caused by a massive shift in climate rather than by the arrival of humans who over hunted animals or destroyed habitats by burning the landscape.
[Who needs new posts when you can just keep Updating. . . .]
Found original paper, probably subscriber only though:
Prolonged coexistence of humans and megafauna in Pleistocene Australia.
["When will
Yet another mention in Nature.
Note: This is a new story Mutilated Bronze Age lord found in Germany
Archaeologists have discovered the skeletons of a lord and his retainers in a burial mound at Germany's most celebrated Bronze Age site.
Archaeologist Olaf Schroeder said the intact, 4 200-year-old mound was one of at least eight "barrows" within view of the ancient holy site that yielded the 3 600-year-old Nebra celestial disc, a bronze and gold depiction of the heavens, in 1999.