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Humans

The untold story of the curiously controversial Homo floresiensis dig

The discovery of Homo floresiensis revolutionised the study of human evolution, but it was rocked by accusations of theft. Twenty years on, here's the full story behind the episode

By Paige Madison

30 August 2023

Homo floresiensis skull. Mould made from fragments of the skull of Homo floresiensis in Liang Bua cave, Flores, Indonesia. This newly discovered hominid species was found in Liang Bua cave in 2003. It was very small, measuring just over a metre tall, and is thought to be a descendant of Homo erectus that underwent island dwarfism - a process where isolated species that lack predators and are constrained by limited resources evolve to become smaller. It is thought to have become extinct around 12,000 years ago and therefore co-existed with modern humans (Homo sapiens). — The skull of Homo floresiensis
JAVIER TRUEBA/MSF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

ON A Tuesday in early September 2003, Benyamin Tarus struck bone. Digging through a cave floor on the Indonesian island of Flores, his trowel sliced into the left eyebrow ridge of an ancient human skull.

It soon became clear that Benyamin had uncovered evidence of an extinct, diminutive human relative unlike anything scientists had seen before. It was given the name Homo floresiensis and nicknamed the hobbit.

The find was described as “the most significant discovery concerning our own genus in my lifetime” by one researcher, and justifiably so. H. floresiensis…

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