Pygmies of Flores

Flora is therefore a woman in her thirties with a very small skull: an endocranial volume smaller than that of the Australopithecus Lucy (380 cm3 ^compared to 420 cm3 ⁾ , the size of a grapefruit; a nasal septum reinforced by a bony structure (as in Australopithecus )  ; a thick cranial vault bone, as in other representatives of the genus  Homo , but reinforced towards the rear (a unique characteristic); a strong curvature of the occipital bone (which is observed in all individuals belonging to the genus  Homo , with the exception of Homo sapiens ); slight prognathism; small canines; a reduced supraorbital ridge separated into two clear parts. According to a detailed study of the fossils in 2016, Flores Man is at least 100,000 years old.

“LB1” called “Flora”, the holotype of Homo floresiensis (Brown, 2004) and its reconstruction

     A real media fever then seized this discovery of Homo floresiensis (2004), in this space left vacant between the discovery of Toumaï ( Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 2002) and that of Denisova ( Homo denisovensis , 2008). The newspapers then had a field day and amused themselves with headlines such as “The Hobbit of Prehistory” ( France Inter , 2006) or “The Man of Flores makes… flores” ( La Fondation du Droit animal , 2017). Flora (LB1), remarkably well preserved for her venerable age of 100,000 years, then became a real star of paleoanthropology at the dawn of the 21st century and took the nickname of “Hobbit”, in reference to the very popular small people imagined by the master of fantasy JRR Tolkien (1892-1973).

    Thus, the prestige of Flora is such that the other fragments of Ling Bua are eclipsed in popular science studies and the site of Mata Menge is only rarely mentioned, at the very place where small hominid bone fragments were found as early as 1997 and are thought to be at least 700,000 years old, much older than those of the Flores Man (M. J. Morwood, F. Aziz  et al. , “Stone artefacts from the 1994 excavation at Mata Menge, West Central Flores, Indonesia”,  Australian Archaeology , vol. 44, 1997).

Many controversies

     380 cm ³ … The size of a grapefruit… Could the skull of Homo floresiensis be small because it was compressed by some pathologies or genetic degenerations? The strong pneumatization of the skull, a sign in hominids of an archaic character and most certainly useful for bipedalism and masticatory power, has earned the Flores Man the suspicion of some degeneration. Already, in order to guard against possible criticism, its discoverer Peter Brown issued some scientific precautions of use: “Although the adult stature is reduced, the proportions remain within the range of adjacent bodies in the human population, as is the size of the brain. The combination of a small body size and a small brain size in LB1 does not correspond to postnatal growth retardation. Similarly, neither pituitary dwarfism, primordial dwarfism, nor microcephalic dwarfism in modern humans reproduce the skeletal features present in LB1. Other mechanisms must have been responsible for the small body size of this hominid, with insular dwarfism being the most likely candidate” (Peter Brown, op.cit .).

     According to Peter Brown, the Flores Man is a completely new and authentic species within the human genus. But some scientists, probably shocked by the small size of the specimen (106 cm) and its mediocre cranial capacity (380cm3), do not believe in the theory of a new species, putting forward two pathological theses: either the Flores Man is affected by microcephaly; or the Flores Man is affected by Down syndrome.

     The microcephaly theory was thus defended in 2005 by Alfred Czarnetzki, Carsten Pusch (University of Tübingen), Jochen Weber (Schweinfurt) and their team of researchers, thanks to the analysis of the largest sample of microcephalic individuals ever examined. As a result, they demonstrated that the hypothesis that Homo floresiensis  was affected by microcephaly cannot be excluded (Alfred Czarnetzki et al. , Carsten Pusch (University of Tübingen), Jochen Weber … Brain of LB1, Homo floresiensis », Science, vol. 308, n ^o  5719, April 8, 2005).

     Some researchers have even suspected that Flora may have Down syndrome. Maciej Henneberg, Robert B. Eckhardt, Sakdapong Chavanaves, and Kenneth J. Hsü have argued for Down syndrome based on an error in estimating Flora’s cranial capacity (430 cm3 ^instead  of 380 cm3 ⁾ ; a craniofacial asymmetry characteristic of Down syndrome; and the short size of the tibias, which, with a model of Down syndrome currently living in the region, would increase the size of the LB1 specimen to 1.26 m (Maciej Henneberg  et al. , “Evolved developmental homeostasis disturbed in LB1 from Flores, Indonesia, denotes Down syndrome and not diagnostic traits of the invalid species  Homo floresiensis  ,”  PNAS , 2014).

    Some detractors have even thoughtlessly assumed that Flora might suffer from achondroplasia dwarfism, but no major scientific publication has supported this theory.

     Despite all these controversies, recent studies on Flora tend to demonstrate that Homo floresiensis had a healthy and well-developed skull and the theories of microcephaly or Down syndrome were quickly disproved.

     Microtomographic analyses of the holotype of the LB1 cranium to detect possible traces of pneumatization pathology related to the frontal, ethmoid and also maxillary sinuses, have revealed factual and undeniably normal pathological characteristics within hominins. Extensive comparative observations carried out in 2015 have shown that these same pathological criteria are comparable to those of Homo erectus  and Homo sapiens .

     A more recent study indicates that Homo floresiensis  would have had an evolved brain, with a frontal lobe, involved in problem solving, and a developed temporal lobe, important in memory-related mechanisms. Therefore, although remarkably modest in size (380cm3 ⁾ , the skull of LB1 suggests potentially advanced cognitive behaviors.

      If Flora was not affected by any pathology, how can we understand this pneumatization of the skull that does indeed exist? Flora (LB1) did, however, suffer from internal frontal hyperostosis, a benign bone lesion, most of the time asymptomatic, which manifests itself by a bone accretion on the endocranial surface of the frontal squama. Despite these few detractors, Flora is not a prehistoric Homo sapiens suffering from a physical or motor handicap (microcephaly, Down syndrome, achondroplasia dwarfism), but rather a perfectly healthy hominid justifying classification in a new species: Homo floresiensis .

When fossils shed light on the legend

     As early as 2008, I had heard of Homo floresiensis , and the Internet was ablaze with the thesis of degenerate Homo sapiens . We were embarked on an expedition in search of the Sasquatch , and during a tiring break in the giant Thuja forest of the Sunshine Coast , Professor Léon Brenig confided in me the idea of ​​a parallel between the fossils of the Flores Man and legends involving hairy dwarves. On this occasion, he mentioned the fact that the anthropologist Gregory Forth had taken a serious interest in these hairy pygmies, called Ebu Gogo. Who is this famous researcher Gregory Forth?

     Gregory Forth , an ethnologist and professor at Canada’s University of Alberta, has been particularly interested in a humanoid creature from the interior of the island, which the local Lio people have named the Lai Ho’a. It is described as a small hominoid, about one meter tall and walking upright like a modern human but with “ape” facial features and a rather hairy body. Often, these creatures are described as appearing to be intermediate between humans and apes, but much smaller and lacking the very long tail of the crab-eating macaques ( Macaca fasciliaris ), the only non-human primate present on the island of Flores.

     In 1984, Gregory Forth took up the torch bequeathed by several anthropologists on the thick file of Ebu Gogo. In the Nage language of the center of the island of Flores, Ebu means “grandmother” and Gogo means “one who eats anything”. Ebu Gogo therefore means “grandmother (ancestral being) who eats everything”.

     The Ebu Gogo are described as being about three feet tall, with a body covered in fur and long hair, a bulging belly, slightly protruding ears, a swaying, clumsy gait, and fairly long arms and fingers. Indonesian villagers are said to speak of an ape-like creature that walks like a man. The Ebu Gogo murmured in their own language and were able to imitate human speech. Ebu Gogo women had extremely long, pendulous breasts, so long that they would throw them over their shoulders in order to feed newborns as they walked.

     Legends say that the Ebu Gogo disappeared about 400 years ago at the time of the arrival of the Dutch and Portuguese explorers. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I cannot find an intriguing story from Dutch New Guinea dating from the 17th century. This story described the cohabitation between the natives and small hairy humanoid creatures and is not found in the works of Bernard Heuvelmans or Ivan T. Sanderson. If any of the most assiduous readers of Strange Reality could help me find this important source, thank you in advance!

     The main story surrounding the Ebu Gogo is that they were simply wiped out by the natives of Flores. In ancient times, cohabitation between the villagers and the Ebu Gogo was quite difficult. The villagers report that the Ebu Gogo plundered their crops, which they tolerated, but decided to chase them away when the Ebu Gogo stole one of their babies. They fled with the baby to their cave, which was at the foot of the local volcano, a few dozen meters from a cliff. The villagers offered them bundles of dry grass as fodder, which they gratefully accepted, returning the human baby. A few days later, the villagers returned in a vengeful mood with a bundle of burning grass, which they threw into the cave. The Ebu Gogo ran out screaming, singed but not fried. They were last seen heading west.

     A much more recent account comes from Chief Epiradus Dhoi Lewa of the Boawae region. Sitting in his bamboo and wood house at the foot of the active Ebulobo volcano, he recalls how in his youth his villagers managed to capture a small woman with long, pendulous breasts for three weeks. “They said she was very small and very pretty,” he says, holding his hand at waist height. “Some people saw her very close.” The villagers of Boawae believe the strange woman came down from a cavity in the Ebulobo volcano where short, hairy people they called Ebu Gogo once lived. “Maybe some Ebu Gogo are still there,” the 70-year-old chief told the New York Herald through an interpreter. The chief adds that the mysterious little woman of Boawae “escaped” her captors, and local police have never been able to find her. So, could this little woman be part of an isolate of the Rampasasa ethnic group? Could she be related to the legendary Ebu Gogo? Or could she be, let us dream, the ultimate survivor through the ages of the fossil taxon Homo floresiensis  ?

     The possibility of this formidable equation “Homo floresiensis = Ebu Gogo” has inspired filmmakers such as Simon George who in 2015 undertook the production of the fake documentary Cannibal in the Jungle on the subject.

     In the style of a documentary pastiche,  The Cannibal in the Jungle  (2015) is a trial film that tells the story of how Dr. Timothy Darrow defended himself by claiming that a mythical human-ape creature, the Ebu Gogo, was responsible for the murders he had committed. Juggling rather crudely between fact and fiction, documentary stock shots and fake interviews with specialists, the film tries to surf very opportunely on the fantasy of a surviving Homo floresiensis through the figure of the legendary Ebu Gogo.

     This rather clumsy document does not in any way affect the file on the island of Flores, which is a resounding success, with absolute coherence between current pygmies (Rampasasa), historical pygmies (indigenous legends of the Ebu Gogo) and fossil pygmies ( Homo floresiensis ). This file is also very original because the fossil discoveries preceded the collection of the testimonial fund, whereas the other files are more likely to experience a movement from the legendary fund to the fossil discoveries.

Also read : https://dallynfriends-adventure.com/2023/10/17/the-lma-the-enigma-of-the-mini-yeti/

     Dear readers of Strange Reality , hoping that this new dive into the Austronesian lands has satisfied you, I will explore in the next article the same biogeographical zone concerning the pygmy peoples, but by letting myself be carried further South, in the archipelago of the Philippines and on the island of Taiwan.

Source : https://strangereality.blog/2023/10/04/pygmees-de-flores-des-fossiles-a-la-legende/

Christophe Kilian

A France Journalist who has interested in Cryptozoology