Past Time is a podcast that explores how we know what we know about the past. There's a special focus on the fossil record - it is hosted by two paleontologists - but delving into the story of the past isn't limited to dry bones. Today's paleontologists use techniques drawn from other sciences including Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Biology to figure out what extinct animals were like and how they lived. Whether you are just starting to learn about the amazing animals that have called this planet home, or you have been fascinated by fossils for a long time, we hope you will join us as we dig into past times. Keywords: Paleontology, Dinosaurs, Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Animals, Fossils, Extinction
https://www.pasttime.org/series/past-time/
Episode 10: The Hobbit – An Unexpected Discovery
Little people! Giant reptiles! Towering elephants! Huge birds! It sounds like the stuff of literary and box-office gold, but this Middle-Earth-like world actually existed 17,000 years ago on Flores, an island near Indonesia. Homo floresiensis, or "The Hobbts", only stood three feet tall but they cast a huge shadow over the story of human evolution. In 2004 fossils of the small, big-footed hominins were discovered and they have challenged paleoanthropologists, like this episode's Dr. William Jungers, to reconsider many hypotheses of human origins including which species left the continent and how we're all related. Once thought to just be small versions of Homo erectus, the hobbits may have much more ancient ancestors, posing more questions for the fossil record to answer as the human story becomes even more complicated...and interesting!
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