Older Humanoids Found in Hobbit Island

Scientists say humanoid life in Indonesia's Flores Island, known as the residence of hobbits, is 120,000 years older than expected.

According to the report, published in Nature, researchers have found some tools belonging to human-like creatures other than hobbits who lived in the area at least one million years ago.

"What's really exciting about this is that we effectively have no idea how long hominids have been on Flores," Lead author Adam Brumm told the BBC.

The remains of the hobbit, or Homo floresiensis, were discovered five years ago at Liang Bua cave in the west of the Flores Island.

The new findings however were made in the Soa Basin, in central-west Flores, where an international team has found old artifacts.

The tools are dating back some 120,000 years before hobbits lived in the island and were found 500 meters away from the Mata Menge dig site of the former excavations.

The new site, known as Wolo Sege, has yielded more than 40 stone tools which were buried under a layer of volcanic ash dated to over one million years ago.

"Anything inside that bedrock, or within any layers we identify in the bedrock, if they contain stone tools they must be at least 1.86 million years old," said Brumm.

The new finding has brought up new theories concerning the origin of hobbits and researchers have suggested the idea that Homo floresiensis might have evolved from more ancient humanoids who left Africa to colonize Asia even before Homo erectus.

"Our discovery at Wolo Sege will certainly open the door to this contentious theory," said Brumm.