Analyses of stalagmites from Liang Bua cave and oxygen isotopes in pygmy elephant tooth enamel indicate a prolonged drying of Flores beginning around 61,000 years ago. That sustained drought likely reduced the hobbits' primary food source and placed severe stress on Homo floresiensis, which disappeared about 50,000 years ago. Modern human presence in the region at the time cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor, with climate change plausibly setting the stage for increased encounters and decline.
Climate Shift Likely Drove Extinction of Flores 'Hobbits' — New Cave and Tooth Isotope Evidence
3d illustration of Homo floresiensis. Credit: Cicero Moraes / Wikimedia Commons.
New geological and isotopic evidence suggests a prolonged drying of the landscape around Liang Bua cave likely contributed to the disappearance of the tiny hominin Homo floresiensis, the so‑called 'hobbits' of Flores. Researchers say a long, slow shift to drier conditions reduced water and food resources — particularly pygmy elephants — and may have set the stage for the species' final decline about 50,000 years ago.
New Geological and Isotopic Evidence
An international team analyzed stalagmites from Liang Bua — the cave where the hobbit fossils were found — and measured oxygen isotope ratios in enamel from pygmy elephant teeth. The stalagmite record indicates the region became markedly drier beginning around 61,000 years ago and remained so for millennia. The enamel isotope data show the pygmy elephants experienced the same reduced water availability, consistent with sustained drought and ecosystem stress.
What This Means for Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis lived on Flores for more than 100,000 years, stood roughly 3 feet tall, made small stone tools and repeatedly hunted pygmy elephants. The new findings suggest that prolonged drought likely depleted their primary food source and placed severe physiological and ecological pressures on their populations, contributing to their disappearance around 50,000 years ago.
“The ecosystem around Liang Bua became dramatically drier around the time Homo floresiensis vanished. Summer rainfall fell and riverbeds became seasonally dry, placing stress on both hobbits and their prey,” said lead author Mike Gagan, a paleontologist at the University of Queensland.
Human Contact Remains a Possible Factor
Modern humans were present in parts of Indonesia around the same period, so researchers do not rule out that encounters — whether competition, conflict, or disease transmission — could have contributed to the extinction. The authors propose that climate-driven resource scarcity may have increased movements and interactions, thereby amplifying any effects of human contact.
Broader Significance
This study illustrates how long‑term environmental shifts can reshape ecosystems, alter migration and survival strategies, and ultimately influence which hominin lineages persist. The research was published in Communications Earth & Environment and adds an important paleoenvironmental perspective to debates about the end of the Flores hobbits.
Lead image: Cicero Moraes / Wikimedia Commons
