Who were the hobbits?

Who were the hobbits? Homo Florensis, or as usually referred to as Hobbits, were an early human specie, which had only one skeleton found in Indonesia, Liang Bua, in 2003.

Homo Florensis is usually referred to as hobbits only because of their size. There are many theories and thoughts about the hobbits. In fact, some scientists think they were gnome-sized modern humans with a disease called microcephary which make the head and brain smaller. Although, once careful studies were operated on the only skeleton found, no sign of sickness or anything found.

Another theory is that Homo Florensis evolved from Homo Erectus and were affected by island dwarfism, a disease on some islands because of lack of waters/foods, but as mentioned before, no illness was found.

There were lots of strange things that were discovered about this dwarf sized human specie, such as; they are as tall as an average modern 4 year old today. Considering the fact they were as tall as a modern 4 year old, they were 4 times stronger than a mature modern human. Also, they had small brains, but strangely, they created quite effective and complex tools, some of those tools were implements fro digging and butchering their prey and stone points to fix wooden spears.

Hobbits were very short, who had long and flat feet, their chin and cheeks were very stuck out, their wrists were arranged more like an ape's rather than a modern human, and they were very strong!

We, modern humans, don't know a lot about this human specie, in fact, they were only recently discovered and only one was found. According to some historians, the Homo Florensis human specie lived from 38,000 years ago until 18,000 or 12,000 years ago, although that isn't for sure. We need to find more skeletons/bones of this specie to know more about it, otherwise we will stay with the same amount of information about them we have today forever.

Why were tool-making and language important for the development of human culture?

Both tools and language were very important for our survival, as well as the development of our culture. Tools enabled humans to hunt animals. Those animals served as food, and sometimes their hides were used for creating shelters and, later on, clothing. This shows a small part of our culture. What we eat and drink today depends on which part of the world we come from, how financially stable we are, what religion we follow, etc. Back then, the humans' diet depended on which part of the world they lived in, and what kind of hunting tools they were able to make. Human culture started developing even three million years ago! Tools were also used for making fire. With fire, early humans could stay up later at night, and socialize with friends and family. This started oral tradition another very important part of our culture. Oral tradition tells us about the hopes, dreams, ideas and opinions of the people who lived long ago. Fire also enabled the early humans to migrate to colder areas, and spread around the world. Language has helped early humans a lot. More complex words, and short sentences gave them the opportunity to discuss hunting techniques, and improve their tool-making. With language oral tradition started, and, over time, with the humans' brains evolving and becoming more developed, humans started telling more detailed stories of their beliefs and lifestyle. Language also enabled humans to do many other things. They could choose leaders, to make changes and lead the people in their communities. They could also discuss their religion, and what they believed in. Early humans could also talk about what they hoped to achieve in the future, and how they planned to survive.

Why did early humans begin to walk on two feet?

Lots of people, such as; Archeologists, Historians, and those who study the evolution of development of humans,etc. ask this question 'why have we started to walk on two feet', that question was never answered, and will never be answered with solid proof.

One theory about why we started to walk on two feet, is that there was a change in the African climate, and therefore forced Early humans to walk on 2 feet. A very long time ago, when the ancient peoples were in Africa, Africa was basically one huge forest. Over time, the huge forest became a high grassland. The Early Humans' prey they used to hunt started migrating because of their (Early Humans' prey) food sources, thus, the humans followed their prey. Because of all the walking the Early humans had to do (while following their prey), they figured it was much faster, requires less energy, and more efficient then going on all fours.

There are definitely many other great theories out there about why our earliest ancestors started walking on all four, such as; being able to carry more food, and therefore attract female. Sadly we will never find out why our ancestors started walking on 2 feet. I believe the theory that they followed their prey the most because it is most scientifically logical (from all the theories I've heard).

How does the use of fire demonstrate prehistoric people's ability to adapt to their environment?

Fire is part of your everyday life. Early Humans, used fire in different ways, but one of the ways was to adapt to their environment. They used fire to scare away the predators in the late nights. They also used fire in the cold days so they can keep themselves warm and cozy. Early humans haven't only used fire to adapt to their environment; they used it for other things too. The early humans played with fire, until they found out what it is, and how harmful it can be. Early humans have used fire for cooking their food, they cooked there food so; they wouldn't get poisoned if the meat/etc. wasn't good, to make the food easier to digest, and to just make it tastier.