Retractions dept.
...wherein I disavow any suggestion that LB1 or any of the Flores fossils are australopithecines.
Along with four of the best anatomists that I know, I had the opportunity to see detailed pictures of the LB1 postcrania.
The specimen is beyond any doubt or question pathological.
This is very clearly shown by many details that are either not depicted or are not clear in the photos in the original Nature paper. It is not my place to provide more information about these details; my understanding is that a thorough presentation of them is forthcoming. I will say that this specimen has morphological characters that would indicate severe developmental abnormalities even if the skull had never been found. This is in no way a close call.
It remains to be shown whether the pathology in the specimen explains its brain size. Examination of the endocast shows features that are highly unusual. It would seem to me remarkable if the occurrence of these features was purely coincidental with the postcranial and cranial pathology.
My suggestion of australopithecine affinity was based strongly on the anatomy of the pelvis and the size of the brain. Since the specimen is pathological, I no longer trust that either feature characterized the Flores population rather than this single individual.
I also saw the other skeletal specimens. These have not been described, so I will not talk about them, although their existence has been widely cited as evidence that LB1 was typical of its population. A look at the rest of the sample lends little credence to this idea.
The bottom line is that this specimen cannot be assumed to be representative of the population from which it came. Any interpretation that starts with the assumption that LB1 is normal should be viewed with extreme skepticism.
- 4/24/2008
- Peter Brown refutes Flores filling claim
- 4/15/2008
- Was Homo floresiensis the tooth fairy?
- 3/6/2008
- Hobbit cretin FAQ
- 10/9/2007
- Tools of the hobbits
- 8/10/2007
- The Liang Bua report
- 8/5/2007
- A hobbit Internationale
- 7/3/2007
- Another diagnosis for a hobbit
- 5/12/2007
- Island hopping
- 4/26/2007
- A guide to fantasy science
- 4/3/2007
- Floresiensis presentations
- 2/7/2007
- Size, shape, and microcephaly
- 1/30/2007
- "I'd be very surprised if the hobbits didn't fall down there."
- 1/29/2007
- Another brain scan hobbit paper coming
- 8/23/2006
- Is this the end for Homo floresiensis?
- 7/20/2006
- Pygmoid, Australopithecus, Homo, yada yada...
- 6/22/2006
- Narrowing down Flores microcephaly
- 6/1/2006
- Mata Menge stone tools
- 5/26/2006
- Cryptomundo hobbit article
- 5/18/2006
- Martin versus Falk on microcephaly
- Hobbit news from Stony Brook
- 3/22/2006
- Kate Wong hobbit update 2
- 3/15/2006
- Kate Wong hobbit update 1
- 3/9/2006
- Wong Flores update
- 3/4/2006
- "The Mystery of the Human Hobbit"
- 12/8/2005
- Is that a Jethro Tull song?
- 12/7/2005
- Give those hobbits a Vegemite sandwich
- 10/14/2005
- If it weren't for those meddling kids...
- From one microcephalic to twenty
- 10/13/2005
- New CT study: LB1 "nearly identical" to microcephalic
- 10/11/2005
- Flores update, October 2005
- News trickling about Liang Bua
- 9/23/2005
- Hobbit backlash building
- 9/16/2005
- Flores interviews on NOVA scienceNOW
- 6/24/2005
- Stalking the wild ebu gogo
- 6/13/2005
- Questioning the Flores dwarf Stegodon remains
- 6/7/2005
- Back to Rampasasa
- 5/4/2005
- Homo floresiensis on 60 minutes
- 4/30/2005
- The Rampasasa Pygmy Somatology Expedition
- 4/9/2005
- Retractions dept.
- 3/26/2005
- A show of "no support"
- 3/22/2005
- Have the hobbits been protsched?
- 3/14/2005
- Homo floresiensis on National Geographic Explorer
- 3/7/2005
- The brain of the hobbit
- 2/21/2005
- You heard it here first :: hobbits are australopithecines!
- 2/18/2005
- Can somebody find these hobbits a mommy?
- 1/16/2005
- The Liang Bua debate, continued
- 1/5/2005
- The Flores find :: more thoughts on Liang Bua
- 11/1/2004
- Is Liang Bua pathological :: update
- 10/31/2004
- Liang Bua :: an australopithecine from Flores?
John Hawks Department of Anthropology
University of Wisconsin—Madison
Copyright © 2007 John Hawks