Mystery hominid settled Sulawesi

摘要

Toolmakers ventured from Southeast Asia to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi deep in the Stone Age, far earlier than previously thought and probably before Homo sapiens originated in Africa 300,000 years ago, researchers say. The discovery of ancient stone tools on Sulawesi, some of which date to a minimum of 194,000 years ago, also renews speculation about the evolutionary background of Homo floresiensis. Better known as the hobbit, H. floresiensis was a diminutive hominid that lived roughly 500 kilometers south of Sulawesi on the island of Flores at around the same time the Sulawesi tools were made.