Public lecture: The Flores Hominid

Professor Colin Groves will be giving a talk on the Flores Hominid, aka fomo floresiensis, aka the hobbit later this month in September. Do give a visit, if you’re in the vicinity of the Australian National University.

Public Lecture: The Flores Hobbit
Speaker/Host: Professor Colin Groves
Venue: Manning Clark Theatre 6
Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Enquiries: Wendy Lees on 040 652 6332

The discovery of Homo floresiensis (known as the Hobbit) through excavations at Liang Bua was initially so surprising that there was a widespread refusal to accept its validity — there were numerous claims that the type specimen was some kind of pathologically deformed modern person. These claims recall the similar wild-eyed objections that have greeted almost every major discovery in palaeoanthropology, and have somewhat overshadowed the scientific discussions about the affinities of Homo floresiensis.

Professor Groves will discuss this question and its bearing on our understanding of the dispersals and biogeography of proto-humans, after describing significant features of the species’ skeleton and dentition, and its inferred functional anatomy.

Related Books:
– A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Strange Story of the “Hobbits” of Flores, Indonesia
– Little People And a Lost World: An Anthropological Mystery (Discovery!)