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Scientists are to present new evidence that the tiny human species dubbed "The Hobbit" may not be what it seems.
The researchers say their findings strongly support an idea that the 1m- (3ft-) tall female skeleton from Indonesia is a diseased modern human

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New species of early Man
By Nic Fleming and Roger Highfield in Dublin
(Filed: 14/09/2005)

A fossil of a diminutive human nicknamed "the Hobbit" does indeed represent a previously unrecognised species of early Man, according to a new technique that suggests it was a cultured little fellow.

Sceptics had argued that the Hobbit, discovered in Indonesia and first announced last year, could have been an individual who suffered from microcephalya, a disorder that limits brain growth.

The fossils' discoverers had suggested that the Hobbit was either a pygmy form of a known species or a previously undiscovered species of early human.

Yesterday Nathan Jeffery of the University of Liverpool described a new way to study the imprint left by the brain on the inside of fossilised skulls.

His work adds fuel to a debate about how advanced the Hobbit's mental abilities might have been.

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