Archaeological excavations of Holocene deposits at Liang Bua in progress. These sediments contain skeletal and behavioral evidence of modern humans (Homo sapiens). Eight years of further excavations and study at the Indonesian cave site of Liang Bua have pushed back the time of disappearance of the ‘hobbits’ of Flores (Homo floresiensis) from as recently as 12,000 years ago to about 50,000 years ago—around the same time that modern humans (Homo sapiens) first dispersed through the wider region and reached Australia, according to new findings published in the journal Nature.
Photo credit: Liang Bua team