Adam van Arsdale on the Hobbit
"Whatever Flores is, it is not the Rosetta Stone of human evolution. It is a strange side story, like an episode of Lost.”
- Adam van Arsdale, on Twitter
Arsdale, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wellesley, was responding to two recent scientific reports that the Homo floresiensis skeleton, discovered in 2003 and claimed to be a new diminutive species of human, might instead have been a normal Homo sapiens with Down's syndrome. The news about the skeleton, popularly known as the 'Hobbit', was greeted with much skepticism. But of course, science thrives on criticism, and knowing what is 'true' is often a lengthy process with no guarantees. Time will usually tell.
You can read an account of the controversy here.