Martin Robert D, Maclarnon Ann M, Phillips James L, Dobyns William B
Academic Affairs, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA.
Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2006 Nov;288(11):1123-45. doi: 10.1002/ar.a.20389.
The proposed new hominid "Homo floresiensis" is based on specimens from cave deposits on the Indonesian island Flores. The primary evidence, dated at approximately 18,000 y, is a skull and partial skeleton of a very small but dentally adult individual (LB1). Incomplete specimens are attributed to eight additional individuals. Stone tools at the site are also attributed to H. floresiensis. The discoverers interpreted H. floresiensis as an insular dwarf derived from Homo erectus, but others see LB1 as a small-bodied microcephalic Homo sapiens. Study of virtual endocasts, including LB1 and a European microcephalic, purportedly excluded microcephaly, but reconsideration reveals several problems. The cranial capacity of LB1 ( approximately 400 cc) is smaller than in any other known hominid < 3.5 Ma and is far too small to derive from Homo erectus by normal dwarfing. By contrast, some associated tools were generated with a prepared-core technique previously unknown for H. erectus, including bladelets otherwise associated exclusively with H. sapiens. The single European microcephalic skull used in comparing virtual endocasts was particularly unsuitable. The specimen was a cast, not the original skull (traced to Stuttgart), from a 10-year-old child with massive pathology. Moreover, the calotte does not fit well with the rest of the cast, probably being a later addition of unknown history. Consideration of various forms of human microcephaly and of two adult specimens indicates that LB1 could well be a microcephalic Homo sapiens. This is the most likely explanation for the incongruous association of a small-brained recent hominid with advanced stone tools.
新提出的原始人类“弗洛勒斯人”是基于印度尼西亚弗洛勒斯岛洞穴沉积物中的标本。主要证据可追溯到约18000年前，是一个体型非常小但牙齿已发育成熟的个体（LB1）的头骨和部分骨骼。不完整的标本归属于另外八个个体。该遗址的石器工具也被认为是弗洛勒斯人的。发现者将弗洛勒斯人解释为源自直立人的岛屿侏儒，但其他人则认为LB1是一个体型小的小头畸形智人。对包括LB1和一名欧洲小头畸形患者在内的虚拟脑模型的研究据称排除了小头畸形，但重新审视发现了几个问题。LB1的脑容量（约400立方厘米）比任何其他已知的350万年前的原始人类都要小，而且小到不可能通过正常的侏儒化过程从直立人演变而来。相比之下，一些相关工具是用一种直立人以前未知的预制石核技术制造的，包括一些仅与智人相关的细长石片。用于比较虚拟脑模型的单一欧洲小头畸形头骨特别不合适。该标本是一个铸件，而非原始头骨（追溯到斯图加特），来自一名患有严重病变的10岁儿童。此外，头盖骨与铸件的其他部分不太匹配，可能是后来添加的，来源不明。对各种形式的人类小头畸形以及两个成年标本的研究表明，LB1很可能是一个小头畸形智人。这是对一个脑容量小的近代原始人类与先进石器工具不协调关联的最有可能的解释。
