Revealing the Hobbit's Face

From the skull were 18 thousand years old age, the Australian scientists can estimate what the extent of the Hobbit from Flores. "She's not what you'd call pretty, but she is definitely distinctive," said Susan Hayes, anthropologists from University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, on December 9, 2012.

The estimated female hobbit's 
face done by Susan Hayes.
(Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

With a background in forensic science, Hayes can "turn on" the back face of the female skeleton is estimated as high as one meter a 30-year-old. The skull was taken from an ancient skeleton found in Liang Bua cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores in 2003.

Homo floresiensis skeleton was nicknamed the Hobbit as a dwarf stature. Since the skeleton was discovered, scientists have debated whether the specimen represents a new species that have gone extinct in the human family tree or are a family of Homo erectus, a hominid of period 1.8 million years ago, the first modern humans have equal proportions of Homo sapiens.

Some scientists suspect it was a human skeleton had microcephalia, a condition characterized by a small head, short stature, and mental retardation. But the 2007 study, which revealed that the Hobbit brain is only a third the size of modern adult human brain, proving that the ratio of areas of the brain skull does not match the characteristics microcephalia.

The path Hayes took to reach her facial approximation. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

The woman hobbit's face was exhibited in the Australian Archaeological Conference, which was held December 9 to 13 at the University of Wollongong. Hayes, who prefer the term "facial approximation" rather than "facial reconstruction" for her work, was satisfied with the outcome.

"It took longer than I anticipated," said Hayes. "The work that caused me a few headache, but I am delighted, both with the development of the methodology and final results," she said. *** [LIVESCIENCE | KORAN TEMPO 4082]

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