RT reported yesterday that in the first comprehensive analysis of Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “little people”, researchers determined that this human population evolved from the taller Homo erectus from Asia. ASIAN. However, Homo floresiensis’ body size gradually decreased due to the “island effect”, which occurs when a population evolves in a confined environment.

The research team led by Yousuke Kaifu, associate professor at the Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, Japan, compared the teeth of tiny humans with the teeth of 490 Homo sapiens and other extinct ancient hominins. 

Analysis shows that tiny human teeth have half primitive and half modern characteristics. In addition, researchers have discovered that people today may carry a small amount of tiny human genes.

“The first modern humans may have interbred with Asian Homo erectus on a small scale. It is possible that they met modern humans who spread from Africa to Australia 50,000 years ago,” Yousuke said.

However, the teeth are not similar to human teeth, negating the previous theory that tiny people are deformed modern humans. They are also not suitable for modern human teeth.

Instead, the teeth and skull of the tiny human bear many similarities to Homo erectus, the earliest ancestor of modern humans, from the island of Java, Indonesia.

Homo erectus, also known as Java Man, was as tall as modern humans. This leads researchers to believe that the little people have undergone severe dwarfism syndrome, with their bodies shrinking from 1.65 m to 1.1 m. Their brains also decreased in weight from 820 g to 390 g.

Little people became extinct about 13,000 years ago. Their skeletons were found on the island of Flores, Indonesia in 2003.