What's the big deal, really?

"Alien from Earth" is a documentary about Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the hobbit, a curious hominin living on the island of Flores in Indonesia until about 12,000 years ago.

Some scientists still refuse to believe that we are dealing with a genuinely new human species. The hobbit was tiny, had a small brain, but could nevertheless make tools and hunt. This goes against most of what we think we know about the evolution of the human brain. Their ancestry is also a mystery. Were they descended from Homo erectus? If so, why would natural selection *shrink* a hominin and its large brain? Do the so-called "island rule" really apply to humans? Sceptics believe that "Homo floresiensis" is really a collection of pathological specimens, perhaps suffering from microcephaly.

The NOVA documentary sides with those who believe that Homo floresiensis was a bona fide species of early human. Their hypothesis is that Australopithecus may have left Africa, evolved into "Dmanisi Man" and then branched off into Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis. ("Dmanisi Man" is a strange honimin found in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. It's currently considered a subspecies of Homo erectus.) The hobbit kept many of the original australopithecine features, including the diminutive size, while evolving greater intelligence. On the isolated island of Flores, this dwarfed humanoid survived well into "our" Stone Age, perhaps being killed off by a volcanic eruption.

It's a fascinating hypothesis. And why not? Evolution is supposed to be a bush, rather than a neat "tree" or "great chain of being". There are other examples of evolutionary convergence, so why can't human-like intelligence evolve in different lineages? Personally, I tend towards the heretical notion that evolution might be teleological (don't tell my former biology teacher, please!), but there is nothing anti-teleological in the notion that nature slowly and meanderingly gropes its way towards human intelligence (and, hopefully, beyond it!) rather than following a straight path. So what's the fuzz all about, really? Research grants as usual? :P

Another fascinating aspect of the question, only briefly touched upon "Alien from Earth", is the connection between the hobbit and various cryptids. Many people have heard of the Orang Pendek, and it seems there are similar legends at Flores about a creature known as Abu Gogo or "The grandmother who eats anything". A bit like Gollum, perhaps? Could these particular ghost-stories have a basis in earthly fact? One issue not belaboured in the documentary is how the tiny hobbits, or their larger cousins Homo erectus, could reach Flores in the first place? Could they build rafts? Or did they pass across temporary land bridges formed by volcanic activity?

"Alien from Earth" gives a fascinating look into our murky prehistory, which may still hide a surprise or two. Five stars.