Climate, Not Modern Humans, Likely Ended Flores’ 'Hobbits,' New Study Finds

New research suggests that long-term climate change — not direct competition with modern humans — is the most likely explanation for the disappearance of the small-bodied hominin Homo floresiensis from the Indonesian island of Flores.

Evidence From Caves and Elephant Teeth

Archaeologists analyzed chemical records preserved in cave stalagmites from Liang Bua and enamel from the teeth of a pygmy elephant, Stegodon, a species known to have been part of the hobbits’ diet. These independent archives point to a sustained drying trend beginning around 76,000 years ago and an extreme, multi-thousand-year drought between roughly 61,000 and 55,000 years ago.

Timing Matches The Hobbits’ Disappearance

Liang Bua had been occupied intermittently for roughly 140,000 years. The new paleoenvironmental data indicate that freshwater availability and river flows fell dramatically during the drought, and Stegodon numbers collapsed around 61,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence places the last clear occupations by Homo floresiensis at about 50,000 years ago.

“The ecosystem around Liang Bua became dramatically drier around the time Homo floresiensis vanished,” said Mike Gagan, lead author of the study published in Communications Earth & Environment. “Summer rainfall fell and river-beds became seasonally dry, placing stress on both hobbits and their prey.”

Because the elephants relied heavily on river water, their decline removed a crucial food resource and likely intensified competition for dwindling freshwater and vegetation. The authors argue that this combination of ecological stresses pushed the hobbits to abandon Liang Bua and contributed directly to their extinction.

The team notes it remains possible that as groups ranged farther in search of water and prey they encountered modern humans, but the primary driver indicated by the data is climate-driven resource loss, not immediate human-driven replacement.

Why It Matters

This study highlights how regional paleoclimate shifts can shape the survival and extinction of species, reshape island ecosystems and alter hominin histories. By using multiple lines of environmental evidence, the paper revises earlier narratives that placed modern human arrival at the center of the hobbits’ disappearance.