A research team from the Australian National University confirmed that in an ancient tomb recently found on Alor Island (Indonesia) is the remains of a child. Dental analysis results showed that the child was at least 6-8 years old, while the skeleton showed that the remains were 4-5 years old.
Cave on an Indonesian island. The child’s ancient grave is located right in front of the cave – Photo provided by the research team
In children, the difference in size between these two ages is quite obvious. Therefore, scientists suspect that this baby belongs to a mysterious dwarf tribe that once lived here. This is not too unreasonable, because the Indonesian islands once imprinted the footprints of smaller people than usual, including “Hobbits”, the extinct human species Homo floresiensis.
“We’ll be doing some more paleohealth research to find out if this smaller skeleton is related to diet, environment, or maybe because this child’s tribe was a sufferer group.” genetic isolation on the island” – said Dr. Samper Carro.
The child’s remains were brought to the laboratory for analysis. Preliminary results show that the child may belong to a mysterious dwarf tribe – Photo provided by the research team
The child was also buried in a very strange manner, with ocher smeared on his forehead and cheeks, and an ocher-colored pebble placed beneath his head. The remains’ arms and legs were also removed before burial, perhaps buried elsewhere.
The custom of removing long bones appeared in ancient tombs on neighboring islands such as Java, Borneo and Flores as far back as 8,000 years ago, but this is the first child unearthed in a tomb and marked traces of burial rituals.
According to the article published in Quaternary International magazine, after this initial discovery, the authors will continue to analyze and compare this remains with other archaeological evidence to find the child’s tiny tribe, from there. can understand more about their way of eating, living as well as their mysterious burial rituals. This is an extremely important discovery because ancient children’s tombs were absent here until 3,000 years ago.
