DUBLIN, IRELAND—According to a Live Science report, declining rainfall and a volcanic eruption some 50,000 years ago may have led to the extinction of Homo floresiensis. This small hominin, also called a "hobbit," is known from fossils discovered in Liang Bua, a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. To track the amount of rainfall on the island, a team of researchers including Nick Scroxton of Maynooth University analyzed a stalagmite from Liang Luar, a cave near Liang Bua. Created by dripping water, stalagmites tend to form with less calcium carbonate and more magnesium during times of water shortage. The scientists were therefore able to determine that 76,000 years ago, the island received more than 60 inches of rain, but that amount fell to 40 inches by 61,000 years ago. The amount of rainfall continued to decline until 50,000 years ago, when a nearby volcano erupted and covered the island with a layer of rock. Scroxton and his colleagues also analyzed the teeth of Stegodon, an extinct relative of the elephant that was hunted by Homo floresiensis. The Stegodon population declined between 61,000 and 50,000 years ago, when it also disappeared from Flores. “We suspect that if the Stegodon population were declining due to reduced river flow then they would have migrated away to a more consistent water source,” Scroxton said. “So it makes sense for the hobbits to have followed.” The researchers suggest that while tracking the Stegodon population, Homo floresiensis may have encountered the groups of modern humans who were migrating throughout the region on the island’s coastline, putting the two groups in direct competition for scarce resources. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Communications Earth & Environment. For more on Indonesian archaeology, go to "Java's Megalithic Mountain."
