IT WAS the most spectacular fossil find of a generation. The discovery that a mysterious and apparently ingenious human species may have shared the planet with our own less than 15,000 years ago captured the imagination of palaeontologists and public alike.
No wonder the diminutive Homo floresiensis, known as Ebu, discovered on a remote Indonesian island attracted critics. Some argued it was a pygmy, others that it was a full-sized human with a malformed skull and brain. Now a detailed analysis of the skull’s anatomy has laid both ideas to rest, and confirmed that Ebu is a unique species.…
