Colin Groves: The Debate About Homo floresiensis Is Over!

In the Journal of Comparative Human Biology, Colin Groves has done analyses that he claims firmly debunks the idea that the Homo floresiensis remains from the island of Flores are cretins. The story, from OneIndia, reports:

Groves compared the Flores bones with those of 10 people who'd had cretinism, focusing on anatomical features that are typical of the disease.

He found no overlap.

Groves' research appears in the journal of [sic] Journal of Comparative Human Biology.

Previously, researchers William Jungers and Karen Baab, both from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, studied the skeletal remains of the female (LB1), nicknamed "Little Lady of Flores" or "Flo" to confirm the evolutionary path of the hobbit species.

I suspect that the debate is not over, simply because this set of remains is so odd when compared to the remainder of the human fossil assemblage.

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