In 2003, the skeletal remains of a mysterious hominin were discovered on the island of Flores in Indonesia.
The remains included a skull and partial skeleton, and several other skeletal elements representing at least 11 individuals.
This new hominin, named Homo floresiensis, was described in the journal Nature in 2004.
The partial skeleton of this species, which was designated as female because of characteristics of the pelvis, shows that in maturity she was only about 3.6 feet tall with a cranial capacity of 426 cc.
Stone tools dated in layers as old as 190,000yrs old suggest hominins may have inhabited the Indonesian islands for a long time.
At the time of its discovery, H. floresiensis was the subject of much debate centering on whether it is a new human species, a pathological Homo sapiens, or a case of insular dwarfism of a Homo erectus population.
However, studies using cladistic and morphological analysis suggest that Homo floresiensis is a separate species from Homo erectus and may share a common ancestor with Homo habilis, challenging the notion that Homo erectus was the only hominin to leave Africa before Homo sapiens did so about 180,000yrs ago.
The Bone Clones® Fossil Hominid line is composed of discoveries from anatomically modern humans, archaic humans, early Homo, early hominins, and other hominids.
The majority of the casts in this line have been recreated by our team of anatomical sculptors.
Some are reconstructions made by anthropology professionals using fragmentary elements from original discoveries and extrapolating the missing parts from those (i.e. Neanderthal skeleton).
A small portion of the fossil hominid line has been cast from original material.
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