Who are the Indonesian Dwarfs?

What has been previously thought to be the remains of small-statured modern human bones that lived fifteen thousand years ago in the islands of Indonesia does not belong to Homo sapiens, or modern humans. According to Agence France-Presse, the bones of these early humans, dubbed dwarfs due to their small size, were discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores, Indonesia. Since the discovery of these bones, there has been much debate among scientists regarding the nature of these remains. Some believed they belonged to an unknown species of early humans, while others thought that this species might belong to Homo sapiens suffering from a specific disease that caused their dwarfism. This unknown species stood about one meter tall and weighed approximately 25 kilograms. Their brain size was similar to that of a grapefruit. Recent research findings have concluded that these bones do not belong to Homo sapiens. Two French scientists named Anthony Balzeau and Philippe Charlier explained in an article published in the journal Human Evolution that when they examined the bone layers of the 'Flores Man' using new laser technology, they determined that these bones do not share the skeletal characteristics of Homo sapiens. Balzeau, a researcher at the Museum of Natural History in France, stated, 'There is a lot of information in the layers of the skull bones... there are no shared characteristics between Homo sapiens and this species.' However, while one part of this ancient mystery may have been solved, another part remains unanswered. It is now clear that these bones do not belong to Homo sapiens. Yet scientists still cannot definitively rule out two other hypotheses. One is that these dwarfs belong to Homo erectus, who arrived in Java millions of years ago and gradually became shorter. The other is that these bones may belong to a completely unknown species of early humans.